Blue Devils Defeated 15-2 In State Legion Opener

Sun., Aug. 2, 1998

Chris Sleten drove in five runs as Seattle Food Giant rolled over the Spokane Blue Devils 15-2 on Saturday in an opener at the State Senior American Legion baseball tournament in Vancouver.

Seattle scored six runs in the top first inning and three in each of the next two innings to take a 12-0 lead before the Blue Devils got their first run in the bottom of the third.

Aaron Farr and Matt Schwarzer hit solo homers for the Blue Devils, who picked up just four hits.

The Blue Devils play Longview tonight at 7:30 in their second game of pool play.

GU names golf coach

Brad Rickel, assistant golf coach this past season at Gonzaga University, has been promoted to head coach of the Bulldogs’ program, acting athletic director Mike Roth announced Saturday.

A Spokane native who attended Gonzaga Prep, Spokane Falls Community College and Eastern Washington University, Rickel also serves as the first assistant PGA Golf Professional at Manito Golf and Country Club. He has been in the PGA for five years.

Rickel said the Gonzaga men return all but one player from a year ago, and the women’s team comes back intact.

He played golf at Gonzaga Prep and played in the Washington State Junior Golf tournaments for 10 years. But Rickel put his golf game on hold following high school to concentrate on his other athletic love, ice hockey. A goaltender, he played hockey for 17 years, coming up through the youth ranks in Spokane and finishing his career with the junior Spokane Flames and Spokane Braves.

Rickel replaces Kelly Lynch-Stewart who resigned in May.

Track and field

Rick Collins of Spokane took sixth in the Young Men’s (17-18) pole vault on Saturday at the USA Track & Field Junior Olympic National Championships being held at Husky Stadium in Seattle.

Collins’ mark was 13 feet, 11-1/4 inches. The winner was Eric Eshbach of Orange, Texas, at 16-7-1/4.

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Blue Devils Defeated 15-2 In State Legion Opener

Jesse Tinsley

Jim Meehan

Molly Quinn

Rob Curley

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