Huskies players abound near top of men’s amateur

Zach Bixler of the University of Washington carded a 3-under-par 69 Tuesday to tie for the first-round lead at the 79th Washington State Men’s Amateur Championship at Moses Lake.

Steven Dales of Abbotsford, British Columbia, and Jeff McNaughton of Edmonds, Wash., also shot 69s at The Links at Moses Pointe, battling high winds and 100-degree temperatures.

UW’s Alex Prugh (Ferris High) and Chad Gormey are tied for fourth place, one shot back.

Colville’s Kent Brown shot 72 and is tied for 11th. Mark West of Fairchild Air Force Base is another shot back.

Nick Grigsby (Central Valley High), who won the State 4A title last month, carded a 75. Former Ferris golfer Craig Leslie of UCLA shot a 77.

The field will be cut to the top 60 and ties after today’s second round. The final two rounds are Thursday and Friday.

Football

Washington State University linebacker Will Derting was named to the preseason watch list for the Chuck Bednarik Award, presented to the college defensive player of the year, the school announced.

Despite a preseason wrist injury that forced him to play with a cast, Derting made the Pacific-10 Conference second team in 2004 after accounting for 93 tackles and 3 1/2 sacks.

Derting is one of 50 players on the list, named for NFL Hall of Famer Bednarik, who played for the Philadelphia Eagles. Spencer Havner of UCLA and USC’s Darnell Bing are the other Pac-10 players on the list.

Derting is also on the Lombardi Award and Lott Trophy watch lists.

Baseball

Right-hander J.T. Heaton scattered five hits in eight innings as the Kitsap BlueJackets (4-2, 2-2) edged the Spokane RiverHawks 2-0 to open a three-game series in West Coast Collegiate League play at Bremerton, Wash.

Brent Mertens finished 2 for 4 for the RiverHawks (3-5, 2-4).

Spokane has dropped four consecutive games.