Rockies draft Holcomb
Shadle Park High School graduate Darin Holcomb became the second Gonzaga University player to be chosen in this year’s Major League Baseball draft when he was taken in the 12th round by the Colorado Rockies Friday.
The third baseman was selected as the 372nd overall pick. Bulldogs pitcher Clayton Mortensen was picked Thursday as the 36th overall pick by the St. Louis Cardinals.
Holcomb, a junior, is the 50th player to be drafted in GU baseball history. He was an All-West Coast Conference selection, hitting a team-leading .369 this season, including .402 in conference play. He led the Bulldogs in three offensive categories – runs scored (43), hits (86) and doubles (17). He tied for the team lead with six home runs.
Another area player, Pullman HS graduate Jay Brossman, was chosen in the 36th round by the Los Angeles Angels. Brossman, a senior infielder at Utah, was an All-Mountain West Conference selection for the fourth consecutive year, three on the first team.
The Spokane Indians’ major league affiliate, the Texas Rangers, made a couple of selections with Northwest ties, choosing Lewis-Clark State College centerfielder Donniei Ecker and Oregon State pitcher Anton Maxwell.
Ecker was one of a school-record eight Warriors chosen in the draft.
Boxing
Professional boxing returns to Coeur d’Alene for the first time in a generation tonight with a card filled with fighters with local and national credentials in the North Idaho College athletic building.
The doors open at NIC at 6 p.m., with the first bout scheduled to start at 7.
In the main event, Spokane’s Chauncy Welliver will face New Zealand’s Richard Tutaki in a 12-round, North American Boxing Council heavyweight championship. Welliver scored a unanimous decision over Tutaki in a December fight in Auckland, New Zealand.
Also on the card is Welliver’s older brother, Dewey, who takes on Sean Holley in a light middleweight bout for the Canadian-American-Mexican title. It’s the first time the brothers have fought on the same card in more than four years.
Former world cruiserweight champion “King” Arthur Williams, who has fought regularly in North Idaho in the past few years, takes on Jeff Brownfield.
Michael Clark, the team captain from the second season of the boxing reality television series “The Contender,” brings his 36-4 professional record into an exhibition bout with former world champion Vince Phillips.
And in a four-round bout, 398-pounder Eric Esch, better known as “Butterbean,” puts his 77-7-4 record on the line against Travis Holt.
Pro Team Boxing, the card’s promoters, plans to bring three more cards to NIC in the next year, including a scheduled event in August, as well as producing cards in Lewiston.
“Charles Hatley of Dallas defeated Mahlon Kerwick of Spokane in the welterweight championship at the national championships in Colorado Springs, Colo., when the referee stopped the fight in the second round after Hatley reached a 20-point advantage.
Soccer
The Spokane Spiders (3-4) ended a four-game losing streak with a 1-0 Premier Development League victory over the Abbotsford Rangers (1-2-2) at Spokane Falls CC.
Grant Lundverg scored in the 56th minute for the Spiders.
Hawk Mummey recorded three saves for the shutout.
The Spiders’ next match is June 16 against Cascade at SFCC.