Northwest Notes June 4, 2021

Former Lake City standout Manzardo earns first-team All-America honor

TUCSON, Ariz. — Washington State first baseman Kyle Manzardo was named to the All-America first team by Collegiate Baseball on Thursday.

Manzardo, a junior from Lake City High, is WSU’s first All-America first-team selection since pitcher Aaron Sele in 1990 and is the first position player to earn All-American first-team honors since John Olerud in 1988. Manzardo also becomes just the second Cougar to be a two-time All-American, joining Phil Westerndorf (1975, 1977) after earning third-team honors last season.

Manzardo finished the regular season fourth in the Pac-12 Conference in hitting (.365), third in slugging (.640), second in RBI (60), tied for third in doubles (19), tied for ninth in home runs (11) and fourth in total bases (126). He became the first Coug to record 60 RBI since Jim Murphy had 61 in 2008, led WSU with 24 multiple-hit games including seven 3-hit games, and also led the team with 17 multiple-RBI games including three 5-RBI performances. In conference play, Manzardo hit .325, led the Pac-12 with 13 doubles and tied for seventh in RBI (26) and also earned Pac-12 Player of the Week following the series against UCLA.

Manzardo was one of two players from the Pac-12 on the first team, joined by Arizona’s Jacob Berry as a designated hitter.

Holmgren, Sallis, Jackson invited to USA Basketball Men's U19 World Cup team trials

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Recent Gonzaga men’s basketball signees Chet Holmgren and Hunter Sallis, and Washington State rising sophomore Dishon Jackson, were among 27 athletes that accepted an invitation to attend the 2021 USA Basketball Men's U19 World Cup Team training camp.

Holmgren is the highest-ranked recruit to ever sign with the Zags. The versatile 7-1 prospect is the top-ranked recruit in the Class of 2021 by ESPN and 247 Sports. After being a part of a fourth state championship team, Holmgren was named Naismith Prep Player of the Year, Morgan Wootten National Player of the Year, Sports Illustrated All-American Player of the Year, MaxPreps National Player of the Year, and a McDonald's All-American.

Sallis was a McDonald’s All-American. As a senior, he averaged 22.2 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game, leading Millard North to its first Class A state title. He finished with 1,819 career points, the third-most in Class A history. Sallis was the first five-star basketball recruit in Nebraska history.

Jackson looks to join Coug greats Klay Thompson (2009) and DeAngelo Casto (2009) as young Cougars to represent the USA at the U19 competition.

The youngest player on the Cougars roster at barely over 18 years old, Jackson earned Pac-12 All-Freshman Honorable Mention honors, averaging 7.7 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.1 blocks per game in Pac-12 play.

The athletes, age 19 years old or younger, will compete June 20-22 at TCU in hopes of being named to the 12-member team that will represent the USA at the 2021 FIBA U19 World Cup for Men.

The 27 athletes expected to attend the U19 training camp are: Devin Askew (Texas/Sacramento, Calif.); Patrick Baldwin Jr. (Hamilton H.S./Sussex, Wis.); Kendall Brown (Sunrise Christian Academy /Cottage Grove, Minn.); Kennedy Chandler (Sunrise Christian Academy/Memphis, Tenn.); Jonathan Davis (Wisconsin/La Crosse, Wis.); Derek Fountain (Mississippi State/Holly Springs, Miss.); Caleb Furst (Blackhawk Christian School/Fort Wayne, Ind.); Jordan Hall (Texas A&M/Wildwood, N.J.); Chet Holmgren (Minnehaha Academy/Minneapolis, Minn.); Harrison Ingram (St. Mark's School/Dallas, Texas); Jaden Ivey (Purdue /South Bend, Ind.); Dishon Jackson (Washington State/Vallejo, Calif.); Meechie Johnson (Ohio State/Cleveland, Ohio); Ryan Kalkbrenner (Creighton/St. Louis, Mo.); Trey Kaufman-Renn (Silver Creek H.S. /Sellersburg, Ind.); Zed Key (Ohio State/Bay Shore, N.Y.); Kenneth Lofton Jr. (Louisiana Tech/Port Arthur, Texas); Langston Love (Steele H.S. /Cibolo, Texas); Mike Miles (TCU/Lancaster, Texas); Adam Miller (Louisiana State/Chicago, Ill.); Trey Patterson (Villanova /Somerset, N.J.); Hunter Sallis (Millard North H.S./Omaha, Neb.); Deivon Smith (Georgia Tech/Loganville, Ga.); Dalen Terry (Arizona/Tempe, Ariz.); Jabari Walker (Colorado/Inglewood, Calif.); Peyton Watson (Long Beach Poly Tech H.S./Long Beach, Calif.); and Jaylin Williams (Arkansas/Fort Smith, Ark.).

Athletes eligible for this team must be U.S. citizens, born on or after Jan. 1, 2002. On the list for training camp are 17 who played for NCAA Division I programs this past season and 10 who will be collegiate freshmen in the fall.

The team will be led by TCU head coach Jamie Dixon. Stanford University head coach Jerod Haase and Yale University head coach James Jones round out the coaching staff as assistant coaches.

Featuring U19 teams from 16 nations, the 2021 FIBA U19 World Cup is scheduled to be held July 3-11 in Riga and Daugavpils, Latvia. In addition to the USA and host Latvia, teams that will take part in this summer's U19 World Cup include Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, France, Japan, Lithuania, Mali, Puerto Rico, Senegal, Serbia, South Korea, Spain and Turkey.

The USA was drawn into Group D, alongside Australia, Mali and Turkey for the July 3-6 FIBA U19 World Cup preliminary round. The USA will open play against Turkey on July 3, followed by Mali on July 4 and close preliminary play against Australia on July 6.

Zags begin NCAA regional play tonight vs. LSU

EUGENE, Ore. – The No. 2-seeded Gonzaga baseball team kicks off the 64-team NCAA baseball tournament tonight against No. 3-seeded LSU at 7 (ESPN3) at PK Park as part of the four-team Eugene Regional.

No. 1 seed Oregon, the No. 14 overall seed in the tourney, plays Central Connecticut State at 2 p.m.

Alek Jacob (7-1, 2.82 ERA, 103 strikeouts in 76.2 innings) is the probable starter for the Zags (33-17). Jacob, a Spokane native, was named to Collegiate Baseball’s All-America second team on Thursday, becoming the eighth Zag in program history to be tabbed as an All-American by the outlet and first since Eli Morgan in 2017.

It will be the first meeting between Gonzaga and LSU (34-22). The Tigers went 13-17 in the SEC, and as the No. 9 seed lost to No. 8 Georgia 4-1 in the SEC tournament.

Four LSU players earned all-SEC honors, led by freshman first baseman Tre’ Morgan who earned Second Team All-SEC, Freshman All-SEC and SEC All-Defensive Team honors. Dylan Crews and Landon Marceaux also earned Second Team All-SEC honors while Jordan Thompson and Crews were selected Freshman All-SEC.

This season LSU has six wins against Top 25 opponents, including No. 1 Arkansas. The Tigers also have victories over No. 2 Mississippi State, No. 10 South Carolina, No. 12 Ole Miss and No. 18 Louisiana Tech.

Brett Harris leads the Zags in batting average (.353) and OPS (1.039), while Ernie Yake ranks second with a .321 batting average.

Including this season, Gonzaga has advanced to the NCAA tournament 11 times in program history. The Bulldogs made their first postseason NCAA appearance back in 1971 when they advanced to the NCAA Districts; Gonzaga has appeared in three NCAA Districts in 1971, 1973 and 1974. In 1976, Gonzaga advanced to its first-ever NCAA Regional. That year, the Bulldogs traveled to Tempe, Ariz., and was eliminated after two losses — one to ASU and another to Minnesota. The Bulldogs also made appearances in an NCAA Regional in 1978, 1980, 1981, 2009, 2016 and 2018.

The last time Gonzaga played in an NCAA Regional was in 2018. That year, the Bulldogs secured the No. 3 seed in the Minneapolis Regional and opened against No. 2 UCLA. GU fell 6-5 in the first game, beat Canisius 8-2 and was eliminated by UCLA, 10-4.

GU’s No. 2 seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament is the highest in program history. Since 2009, Gonzaga has secured the No. 3 seed in three consecutive appearances.

Former Boise State star Bergersen completes EWU coaching staff

Seattle-area native Roberto Bergersen has joined the Eastern Washington University men's basketball program as an assistant coach, completing the staff of new head coach David Riley.

On May 21, Riley announced the addition of associate head coach Arturo Ormond and assistant Mark Darnall as members of Riley's first coaching staff.

Bergersen most recently has served the Boise community as director and coach for Hoop Dreams, an AAU all-star basketball program he co-founded in 2007. One of his players was his son Rylan Bergersen, who is now at Eastern after previously playing at BYU and Central Arkansas. Rylan's former high school teammate is current Eastern point guard Ellis Magnuson, who also played for Hoop Dreams.

Roberto, named after Roberto Clemente, also has experience as a prep school head coach, and that provided another connection to EWU. One of his players was Angelo Allegri, who now plays at Eastern after playing at UNC Greensboro.

After starting his collegiate career at the University of Washington, Bergersen starred at Boise State in the late 1990's and was the 1999 Big West Conference Player of the Year. He played much of his 11-year professional career in the Continental Basketball Association/NBA D-League for the Idaho Stampede based in Boise. Playing in a total of seven countries, he also played professionally overseas in France, Italy, Belgium, Spain and Turkey.