According to a Daily Pilot report by Jeremiah Dobruck, "UC Irvine’s swimming and diving, rowing, and sailing teams are no more as a response to a tightening state budget, UCI officials announced Wednesday, saying the move would save the university close to $1 million."

This is one of the many potential responses by SoCal academia to the bill Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed.

OCC already increased its tuition to $26 per unit from $20 in response to the bill Schwarzenegger signed.

In Dobruck's article...

Jeff Hobbs, Orange Coast College communications director, said his college would love to take on extra athletes, but they have capped their growth as mandated by the state and would not be able to take the extra influx of students.

OCC has not had to cut entire athletics programs, but with the volatile economic situation, there aren’t any guarantees, Hobbs said.

“I don’t think the programs themselves are going to see any drastic cuts as of now, but that could change,” he said.

Here's to hoping OCC will not cut its athletic programs.

To donate to the UC Irvine's swimming and diving programs, go to http://www.anteaterswimminganddivingfoundation.org/.

No other sport provides the fans with as many come-back-from-adversity-feel-good stories as baseball.

Baseball's latest is about former Newport Harbor High School and Orange Coast College pitcher Scott Beerer (pictured).

In a feature story in the Rocky Mountain Independent on July 24, Jack Etkin writes about Beerer, a 2003 second-round draft pick by the Colorado Rockies, coming back as a position player after dealing with injuries as a pitcher throughout his professional career.

At first, the Rockies didn't grant Beerer his wish to come back as a hitter and he returned back to SoCal.

Shortly after, he started attending classes at UCLA and worked nights as a bartender to prepare for a life without baseball.

Without giving away too much of the story, Beerer made it back to the Rockies and is now back on a baseball-oriented life path.

OrangeCoast tweeted this story to twitter.com/OccSports and now I'm blogging a little bit about it to share with the world.

And as always, OCC Sports Blog always welcomes tips, story ideas and/or comments.

[Photo courtesy of eBay]

If you want to teach 7- to 17-year-olds how to play basketball like a Pirate, then bring them down to the Orange Coast College Peterson Gym Monday (July 27) for the boys and girls OCC Basketball Skills Camp.

The camp is from July 27 to July 31 and will be directed by OCC head men's basketball coach Steve Spencer.

Men's assistant coach Yee Tran and women's assistant coach Teeya Fernandez will also cordinate the camp.

The first session, from 9 a.m. to noon, is for the 7- to 12-year-olds. The second session, from 1-4 p.m., is for the 13- to 17-year-olds.

Simone Ibbotson (pictured) will be one of the former OCC players helping out in the camp. Ibbotson is a first-team, All-Orange Empire Conference player and will play for Chapman University in the fall.

The camp's cost is $125 for each child - $75 for each additional sibling - and includes a T-shirt.
To register, contact OCC's Bursars office at (714) 432-5880 x1.

OCC Peterson Gym is located at 2701 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa, Calif. 92626.

[Photo by Peter Bicknell]

I'm not going to lie. I'm running out of ideas and I need your help.

It's the summer and a part of me says I don't need to do this, but I love Orange Coast College and the athletics program.

I feel like it's my duty to report on it as much as possible.

But, once again, I need your help because I don't know what to report on and/or improve the blog quality.

The purpose of starting this thread and the polls was to get this blog as interactive as possible and I want to know what interests the blog viewers.

The polls are below the "OCC Sports Blog Supports..." section on the very bottom of the left hand column. Notice in the picture that it's a little more than halfway down on the whole page.

Can't wait to see the poll results and/or the comments on this tread.

Brett Wallach, the 2009 Orange Empire Conference Player of the Year, pitched two scoreless innings against Great Falls Voyagers on July 15 in his second start for the Ogden Raptors.

Wallach, who allowed one walk and one hit with no strikeouts on July 15, has pitched three scoreless innings for the Los Angeles Dodgers affiliate.

The Raptors scored three runs in the top of the ninth to win 4-1.

And I thought since we all know what grown-up Wallach looks like, I'll post a picture of his high school days at Orange Lutheran instead.

To read more about Wallach, click here.

[Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Times]

I wasn't available for interviews that day (sad face) so you'll not hear my voice in the video. I guess missed my 15 minutes of fame.

However, you can see me laying out the sports page. I'm that Asian guy with the Burberry scarf.

Coast Report's Managing Editor Fernando Vazquez and Photo Editor Peter Bicknell were couple of the producers for this five minute clip.

Click here to see the video. [Note: this will direct you to a new window and it will resize it afterwards]

The only rowing program in the community college ranks just got stronger with two national champions from the Newport Aquatic Center team.

Alex Burjakowsky, a Northwood High School senior who rowed for NAC varsity eight, and Morgan Boman, a Corona del Mar High School senior from NAC lightweight eight, will row for Coast in 2010.

“Anytime Coast can get an athlete with national championship success is beneficial for the program,” NAC Coach Nick D’Antoni said. “(It) really speaks highly of OCC’s rowing program because it attracts that caliber of athletes.”

In mid June, the NAC boys’ varsity eight and lightweight eight boats finished first in the U.S. Rowing Youth National Championship at Lake Harsha in Cincinnati, Ohio.

D’Antoni said these guys could’ve gone to other four-year schools with their teammates but picked Coast of its reputation.

“(OCC) really helps them keep the cost of going to school down without sacrificing their rowing careers,” D’Antoni said. “They still have the opportunity to go to great 4-year Universities. That’s the history Coast has built up and people take advantage of it.”

To read about the OCC men's rowing team, click here, and to read about Burjakowsky and Boman’s national championships, click here.

[Photo courtesy of D’Antoni]

Some take the summer to relax and some are busy as ever.

OCC's head softball coach Ruby Rojas is the latter and is sharing her summer activities via Twitter.

So far from Rojas' tweets on twitter.com/rrojas8, she went back to Venezuela to practice with the international team, is actively involved in the BACKSOFTBALL campaign and played in the Canada Cup with multiple injuries (her team finished third in the tournament).

According to canadacup.com, Rojas batted cleanup and played left field for the majority of the tournament. Her best offensive game was on July 6 against Austraila, where she went 2-for-3 with a walk, two doubles and two RBIs.

I also found out from her tweets that she likes to watch BET, been playing with a dirty uniform, loves to cook and saw Transformers 2 and loved it.

And she still has a busy summer left. From her Twitter, Rojas said "3rd place @ Canada Cup. Not bad & way to not give up teammates! Next destination....Chicago to play against Chicago Bandits!"

Yes, I now have a stalker-esk knowledge of our softball coach from reading a couple of her tweets, but I think it's cool to get to know a coach this way.

It's always cool to know that our coaches, teachers, star athletes and students are just like everyone else. I hope more coaches will be active Twitters like Rojas in the future.

Anyways, I hope your summer just keeps on getting better Ruby and keep giving us Twitter updates.

After all, I am a nosy journalist who wants to know everything.

[Photo courtesy of Orange Coast College]

Brett Wallach is now officially a pro baseball player - and a successful one at that too.

In his appearance with the Ogden Raptors, a Los Angeles Dodgers affiliate, he allowed one hit, no runs and had one strikeout against Great Falls Voyagers to help the Raptors win 4-3 Thursday.

Wallach started the game but according to Ogden manager Damon Berryhill on standard.net, Wallach was "on a one-inning assignment to get his arm back in shape after not throwing for three weeks."

Wallach is the 2009 Orange Empire Conference Player of the Year, hitting .352 with three home runs and 41 RBI and going 7-1 with a 2.18 ERA and 90 strikeouts over 82 2/3 innings on the mound, and helped OCC win its first state title since 1980.

Good luck Brett and I hope you have many more scoreless innings like this to come.

OCC baseball, volleyball and football players are moving onto four-year colleges and universities next fall, according to Daily Pilot reports.

Shortstop Beck Wheeler and closer Brett Williams from the 2009 OCC state championship team are going back to Division-I ranks.

Williams is a bounce-back from Loyola Marymount University and Wheeler started his career at University of the Pacific.

Wheeler (left), who hit .333 with two home runs and 28 RBIs this year, will suit-up for the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos.

Williams (right), who posted a 4-2 record with a 2.01 ERA and four saves, will be a Trojan and play for USC in the fall.

Both players were All-Southern California honorees and both earned first-team All-Orange Empire Conference recognition.

Also, Brett Wallach, the 2009 OEC Player of the Year who was drafted and signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers, will report to the Ogden Raptors in Utah to play Rookie Ball baseball.

Three Coast volleyball players are also moving onto four-year universities.

As I reported in May, players Mike Stewart and Rick Schroeder are still going to Ohio State and UC Santa Cruz, respectively.

But Doug Astor (left), who told me he was thinking of either USC or Loyola Marymount, will head to Pepperdine University in the fall.

All three players were part of the 2008 team that made it to the state finals and the 2009 team that made it to the state final-four.

The Daily Pilot's Barry Faulkner wrote a good piece on the several Pirate football players moving onto four-years so I will leave just a link for the football players.

Actually, Barry made it easier for me because he confirmed all the rumors I've heard since the spring semester. The OCC Sports Blog and I thank you.

[Photos of Wheeler and Williams - Courtesy of Orange Coast College]
[Photo of Astory - By Melissa Lee]

So I have to confess something.

I'm a journalist first and a photographer second but this picture may prove I'm a dum-dum before those.

When I took this picture couple months ago at OCC's open gym, I had my camera on black and white setting and never changed it.

Smooth, I know.

But I'm sure I'm going to have plenty of opportunity to take pictures of her during the 2009-2010 lady Pirates' basketball season, in color.

Alyssa, my bad.

Well Orange Coast College and the world, Coast basketball (and the OCC Sports Blog) introduces freshman Alyssa Hanson.

Also, check out the fall preview article I wrote in the Coast Report for the entire women's basketball team.

So head coach Mike Thornton told me you turned down a scholarship from Chapman University to play at Coast. Talk about that.
Main reason why I did that was because I want to play basketball. Chapman's a good school, a lot of money, but I wanted to play basketball.

What made you choose Coast over other schools?
It was the basketball program and it's one of the best junior colleges around so it seemed like a great way to go. I love the coaches, the players and everything.

What are your expectations in the upcoming season?
We have a lot of good players coming in. I think the people that are coming in are going to really good (and) we're going to work hard and play very well.

What's your major going to be at OCC?
Right now it's undecided but it's between kinesiology or business.

What high school are you from?
Esperanza (in Anaheim).

[Photo by Tony Lee]

This is old news but I figure I should post it on here.

On the Major League Baseball draft days, three Pirates from the 2009 state champion team were drafted - the marquee player being Brett Wallach (pictured), the 2009 Orange Empire Conference Player of the Year who was picked in the third round to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Wallach was introduced at the Dodgers stadium on June 27 for signing with the team, according to truebluela.com.

His teammates, Drew Hillman and Mykal Stokes, were selected by Tampa Bay Rays in the 38th round and by San Diego Padres in the 46th round, respectively.

I'm assuming Hillman will go to UC Irvine next year and Stokes, a freshman this year, will return back to OCC to play for head coach John Altobelli.

Also, Altobelli's son, JJ Altobelli, was drafted by Milwaukee Brewers in the 49th round. JJ Altobelli graduated from high school this year and will attend University of Oregon in the fall.

Additional information on the draft picks are available on the OCC Athletics website - run by Coasts' Sports Information Director Tony Altobelli.

[Photo by Hank Schellingerhout]