Fast Break

Baseball

Locker will give baseball a shot

Washington quarterback Jake Locker, the 2007 Pac-10 freshman of the year, will play baseball this summer for the Bellingham Bells.

The Bells play in the West Coast Collegiate Baseball League, a wood-bat summer league. They play in the same league with the Spokane RiverHawks and are scheduled for a three-game series against the RiverHawks on Gonzaga’s Patterson Field July 15-17.

“Jake is such a great competitor and I completely support his decision to play baseball this summer,” UW football coach Ty Willingham said.

Locker was the Washington Class 3A baseball player of the year as a senior at Ferndale High School, both pitching and playing in the outfield.

Locker will only play in the outfield and how much he plays will be determined by his summer workout schedule with the Huskies.

NFL

Falcons sign ex-Coug Coleman

The Atlanta Falcons signed free-agent defensive backs Erik Coleman and Von Hutchins on Saturday.

Coleman, who has seven interceptions and 338 tackles in four years with the New York Jets, is the likely replacement for safety Chris Crocker.

Coleman, from Lewis and Clark High and Washington State University, had 41 tackles in 15 games last season.

Girls basketball

Texas coach wins 1,000th

The Canyon Eagles won yet another state title and put coach Joe Lombard in some exclusive company, earning his 1,000th career victory.

“I feel like an average Joe,” Lombard said after the Eagles defeated Kennedale 59-43 Saturday in the Class 3A final in Austin, Texas.

Lombard is just the fifth girls coach nationally to reach the 1,000-win milestone. In 30 seasons coaching in the small towns of Canyon and Nazareth, the 54-year-old coach has a career record of 1,000-92.

Located in the ranchland and rugged terrain of the Panhandle, Canyon is just a few miles south of Amarillo. The Eagles have won eight state titles in 25 seasons under Lombard, six since 2000.