Angels’ Logan O’Hoppe grateful for Opening Day roster spot

• March 29, 2023

ANAHEIM — The waterworks began almost immediately, as soon as Angels manager Phil Nevin let catcher Logan O’Hoppe know that the rookie had made the Opening Day roster.

Left in tears were O’Hoppe’s parents, who were let in on the moment last week from the manager’s office through a FaceTime call.

“Yeah, so O’Hoppes are criers and there were definitely some tears going on,” O’Hoppe said Tuesday. “But yeah, it’s been a little bit of a whirlwind. It’s a lot to process, but just so grateful for it all.”

Nevin pulled off his sleight of hand by saying he wanted to catch up with O’Hoppe’s father. Nevin and Michael O’Hoppe hit it off this spring.

Not quite fooled was Logan O’Hoppe himself. He is perceptive like that, despite being just 23, with his ability not to be caught off guard just one of a myriad of reasons the club thinks he will have a long, productive major league career.

“(Nevin) came in the locker room and said, ‘Come with me and bring your phone,’” Logan O’Hoppe said. “And then he asked how my dad was doing. Him and pops have developed a good relationship the past few months. So I said he was good and he had me call him up. And that’s when I had a good idea. And it was a special moment for everybody.”

O’Hoppe is not only the Angels’ top prospect, he is the No. 53 overall prospect in baseball as ranked by mlb.com and No. 42 by Baseball America.

“When I mentioned it to a lot of those pitchers, they were all excited,” Nevin said about letting players on the team know of the O’Hoppe decision. “They were happy for him and, in general, really the whole team was.

“They know what he’s put into and it just shows you what kind of guy he is. He’s walked into that room and he’s shown a lot of instant leadership qualities you don’t see from somebody who just turned 23. That’s very rare for a kid coming up from the minor leagues.”

Acquired by the Angels last August in the deal that sent Brandon Marsh to the Philadelphia Phillies, O’Hoppe did not take long to make an impression. He batted .306 with a 1.147 OPS with the Angels’ Double-A team after the trade. It earned him five late-season games with the Angels in 2022.

Now he is expected to get the bulk of the playing time at catcher, at least at the outset, while bringing up the rear in a lineup that turns over to guys like Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani at the top.

“Yeah, it’s super humbling, super humbling,” O’Hoppe said. “I’d be lying If I didn’t say I looked at it and thought, ‘What the hell am I doing there?’ But no, I mean, I’m settling in now and I feel more comfortable and really happy to get going.”

SIXTH WHEEL

Left-hander Tucker Davidson has been told he will be on the Opening Day roster as right-hander Griffin Canning deals with groin discomfort.

Tucker will open the season in the bullpen, with the possibility he does not make his first start until sometime after the sixth game of the season. Tucker and Canning were believed to be vying for the No. 6 spot in the rotation.

“There is a possibility that sixth spot, maybe we don’t use it right off the bat and maybe we do,” General Manager Perry Minasian said. “If we don’t use it right off the bat, then he’s in the bullpen and provides a link there.

“So we’ll discuss that over the course of the next week and see how the games go and how everybody feels and all those things. But is there a possibility that person pitches out of the ’pen? Absolutely.”

Nevin said Canning’s injury is not believed to be serious.

WELCOME BACK

Infielder David Fletcher was available for Tuesday’s game against the Dodgers after missing a few games with a groin injury and is in line to start the regular season on the active roster.

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Nevin said on Sunday it looked as if Fletcher might need to start the season on the injured list, but he has recovered enough to alleviate those concerns.

CENTURY CLUB

Despite an erratic spring for Ohtani, where he spent some time in Arizona before departing to Japan and Miami for the World Baseball Classic, the right-hander is available to throw at least 100 pitches in Thursday night’s season opener against the Oakland A’s.

“If he looks good and feels fine up until the (100 pitch) point, I’m more than comfortable with him going there,” Nevin said.

​ Orange County Register 

Stolen African Gray Parrot reunited with family in Santa Ana

• March 29, 2023

A family on Tuesday was reunited with its African Gray Parrot after it was stolen from their front porch earlier this month, police said.

Santa Ana Police Sgt. Maria Lopez said detectives identified the suspect they believed had grabbed the bird’s cage, as seen in video footage of the March 12 incident.

Police found the stolen parrot Tuesday afternoon, said Lopez, after they searched a suspect’s residence in the 1300 block of South Douglas Street.

A woman at the residence said the parrot had been given to her by the suspect. Lopez said the suspect was not home during the search, and no arrests have been made.

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​ Orange County Register 

Fontana man sentenced to 10 years for scamming victims including businesses and romantic partners

• March 29, 2023

A Fontana man was sentenced Monday, March 27 to 10 years in a federal prison for defrauding eight women, some of whom he developed romantic relationships with, and nine businesses, the U.S. Justice Department said.

Ze’Shawn Stanley Campbell, 35, formerly of Irvine, befriended and started relationships with victims to convince them he was reliable from April 2014 to April 2020, the DOJ said in a news release.

In these relationships, he claimed to have vast wealth and several successful businesses as a means to build credibility among the victims, according to the news release. Campbell also falsely claimed to be a successful investor and that he had served as a Navy SEAL in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

The lies were used to convince victims to provide him with property and money to support his businesses and medical bills, the release said. Campbell used the funds provided to him, instead, on luxury items and other personal expenses, prosecutors said.

As an example, in December 2017, a victim wrote him a check for $61,452 that was deposited into Campbell’s account. He used this money for personal reasons such as to make payments on a BMW and a Mercedes-Benz that were leased in another victim’s name.

Campbell pleaded guilty in October 2022 to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering.

U.S. District Judge Mark C. Scarsi found that the losses caused by Campbell exceeded $550,000 and set another hearing to determine the restitution owed to the victims.

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​ Orange County Register 

Kings’ 12-game points streak ends with loss to Flames

• March 29, 2023

CALGARY, Alberta — It took a spectacular night from Jacob Markstrom to cool the red-hot Kings.

The Calgary Flames goaltender made 32 saves to backstop his team to a critical 2-1 victory that ended the Kings’ franchise-record 12-game points streak.

Sean Durzi had the lone goal for the Kings, who have been the NHL’s hottest team since the All-Star break. They had gone 10-0-2 in their past 12 games, outscoring their opponents 52-28. Nineteen of those goals had come in the previous three games, including an 8-2 thumping of Calgary eight days ago at Crypto.com Arena.

The Kings remain two points behind Vegas for first place in the Pacific Division. Edmonton is in third, just one point behind the Kings, after a 7-4 win in Las Vegas.

“I don’t think it was a lack of effort, certainly today,” Kings captain Anze Kopitar said. “It was a hard-fought game, a physical game. For the most part, we did a good job. Just obviously unfortunately we didn’t convert on a few of our chances.”

Andrew Mangiapane and Walker Duehr scored for Calgary, which won its second consecutive game and improved to 7-3-2 in its last 12.

The Flames opened the night four points behind the Winnipeg Jets, who occupy the final wild-card berth in the NHL’s Western Conference.

Starting for the 15th time in the last 16 games, it was one of Markstrom’s best games of the season.

The veteran came up with several important saves to make the Flames’ 2-1 lead from the first period hold up the rest of the way.

“He was sharp. Made some big stops. He probably stole us two points,” Calgary center Elias Lindholm said.

In his sixth start since being acquired in a trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets, Kings goaltender Joonas Korpisalo made 30 saves but lost for the first time as a King. He falls to 15-12-4 on the season.

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“Both goaltenders were first and second star in whatever order you want to pick,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said. “They both played well. Korpi made some really good saves for us. He gave us a chance to have those good looks at the other end. It’s unfortunate we couldn’t reward him with at least one to get him a point.”

Momentum swung halfway through the first when Rasmus Andersson’s goal, which would have made it 2-0, was waved off after an offside review. Less than two minutes later, the Kings tied it.

Durzi was left with open space to skate in from the blue line and he whipped a shot into the top corner.

Calgary restored its lead at 17:59 when Duehr scored the goal that would stand up as the game-winner, slipping a shot past Korpisalo from the side of the net. It was the sixth goal in 21 games for the rookie from South Dakota, who was playing on the fourth line.

UP NEXT

The Kings continue their four-game road trip on Thursday night at Edmonton.

​ Orange County Register 

Angels pull away from Dodgers in Freeway Series finale

• March 29, 2023

ANAHEIM ― Angels left fielder Taylor Ward made a sliding catch in left-center field, popped up, and threw a strike to second base to complete a double play to end the second inning Tuesday against the Dodgers.

It was only one sequence in an exhibition game, but Ward wasn’t afraid to call it a good omen.

“I think it’s just a start that I want to the year, you know?” Ward said.

The Freeway Series was full of good omens for the Angels, who took two of the three games with a 13-5 victory over the Dodgers before an announced crowd of 36,067 at Angel Stadium. They are 19-3-2 in home exhibition games against the Dodgers since 2004.

The Dodgers (14-13-4) will host the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday night, Opening Day across Major League Baseball. The Angels (18-11-2) will travel to Oakland to play the A’s.

The Angels broke open a close game with four runs in the seventh inning against Dodgers pitcher Jake Pilarski, a minor leaguer pitching his third exhibition game. They added another run in the eighth to provide the final score. Carlos Estevez pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning to close it out.

With no 26-man roster decisions hanging in the balance, the Dodgers used the game as a final tuneup for some of their regulars, and a chance for several minor leaguers to absorb a major league atmosphere on the field.

Starter Ryan Pepiot, who had already clinched the fifth starter’s job to begin the season, threw 86 pitches but didn’t make it out of the fourth inning.

Pepiot walked four batters and allowed five runs across his first five spring starts, then walked another four and allowed five more runs (all earned) in 3⅔ innings Tuesday. He allowed back-to-back home runs to Hunter Renfroe and Luis Rengifo in the third inning.

“I didn’t execute a lot of pitches,” Pepiot said. “I got behind guys. Left some stuff over the inner heart of the plate and got some balls hit hard.”

Angels left-hander Reid Detmers also saw his night end early. After striking out Freddie Freeman to begin the fourth inning, he allowed three straight hits – a double by Will Smith, a single by J.D. Martinez, an RBI single by Max Muncy – then walked Trayce Thompson to end his outing.

In six spring starts, Detmers allowed eight runs across 20 innings, walking eight batters and striking out 27. Only one pitcher (Yusei Kikuchi) recorded more strikeouts this spring. Detmers’ fastball topped out at 98 mph Tuesday, which eclipsed his top regular-season speed (96.1) last year.

“Obviously it feels good,” Detmers said. “It’s good to get outs. It doesn’t matter how hard you throw if you can’t get outs.”

Left-hander Kenny Rosenberg relieved Detmers and retired Miguel Vargas to end the fourth inning. The Dodgers tied the score at 5-5 on a two-run single by Miguel Rojas in the fifth.

By then, all of the Angels’ starters were done for the night. Manager Phil Nevin emptied his bench, which touched Dodgers right-hander Tayler Scott for three runs in the fifth inning. Zach Neto, the Angels’ first-round draft pick a year ago, singled in Osmy Gregorio for the go-ahead run. Neto finished 2 for 2 with a walk.

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A ground ball by Jordyn Adams, the Angels’ 2018 first-round pick, ate up Dodgers first baseman Kyle Nevin and trickled into right field to drive in two more runs. Adams also had two hits in the game.

Phil Nevin announced after the game that pitcher Tucker Davidson would make the Angels’ 26-man Opening Day roster. Pitcher Griffin Canning, who had been competing with Davidson for the sixth starter’s job, felt “a little something” in his groin while playing catch Monday and Tuesday, Nevin said, and will be re-evaluated Wednesday.

Canning missed all of last season with a back injury, but this injury is not considered serious.

“Tuck’s going to pitch out of the ’pen first,” Nevin said, “and it’s another valuable left arm to have out there. And as we get closer to (April 12) when we get back home, we’ll kind of evaluate it and see when we’re gonna make that start.”

Doug Padilla contributed to this story.

​ Orange County Register 

Dr. Clayton Chau, who helped steer OC health care during pandemic, to leave

• March 29, 2023

Dr. Clayton Chau will leave his post as director of the OC Health Care Agency as of June 1, and he confirmed in a text message that he submitted his resignation letter Tuesday, March 28.

In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, Chau was selected in May 2020 to head the agency and a month later also took on the role of the county’s health officer as the spread of COVID-19 through Orange County pushed its hospitals and the health system to the edge.

Reached late Tuesday evening he texted that he will be leaving after the federal COVID-19 public health emergency order is set to end and had “no plan at this time” for what’s next.

“We greatly appreciate his service and he will be missed,” county spokeswoman Molly Nichelson said in a text.

Before the arrival of the coronavirus, few people would have been able to name the county’s health officer, but Dr. Nichole Quick soon became a target for criticism among many who objected to mask requirements. After Quick’s resignation in June 2020, Chau became one of the most visible faces in the local pandemic response. When vaccinations became available he was even helping staff mobile clinics to jab as many people as possible.

“When the first person got the vaccine, I was bawling in the back,” he said in a 2020 Orange County Register article about the first day doses of the new vaccination arrived in the county.

He was also the target of complaints about the stay-at-home orders, masking requirements and concerns people would be forced to be vaccinated. In May 2021, the county’s elected leaders denounced protests at his home – Quick had left the post after protests were staged at her home and threats made.

But Chau said in that 2020 article that he was a bit of an odd-man-out among public health officers at the time because he questioned California’s “blanket” lockdown guidance and encouraged finding a balance between precautions to curb the spread and the needs of keeping people working and businesses afloat.

He also said the pandemic provided lessons for health officials about the need to better ensure health care and social services are extended to all corners of a community.

“This pandemic truly tells us the story about how important health equity is,” he said.

Last March the country finally split the public health officer role and OC Health Care Agency director again, naming Dr. Regina Chinsio-Kwong as the new health officer.

​ Orange County Register 

Carew Classic revises schedule and format due to expected rain Wednesday, Thursday

• March 29, 2023

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Lance Eddy, the tournament director for the Michelle Carew Classic, announced Tuesday that the softball tournament has canceled all of the games scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday because it is expected to rain those days.

The tournament games have been rescheduled for Friday and Saturday.

Eddy hopes all teams can play at least four games using a new format that makes it two, four-game mini-tournaments.

The majority of the games will be played at Peralta Park and Yorba Regional Park in Anaheim. Games will also be played at Canyon and El Modena high schools.

Eddy added the tournament to the app “Tourney Machine” to help keep teams, parents and the media keep track of the updates to the schedule.

Here is the tentative schedule for Friday, March 31:

PERALTA PARK 

9 a.m.: Peralta 3 SS2, Pacifica-Rancho B

9 a.m.: Peralta 2 SS1, St. Francis-Centennial

9 a.m.: Peralta 1 FF1, Canyon-Great Oak

11 a.m.: Peralta 3 SS7, Canyon V-Arbor V

11 a.m.: Peralta 2 SS8, Huntington Beach-Norco

11 a.m.: Peralta 1 FF2, Chino Hills-Great Oak

1 p.m.: Canyon HS SS4, Beaumont-Rio Mesa

1 p.m.: Peralta 3 SS9, Losers 1 & 2

1:15 p.m.: Peralta 2 SS13, Winners 1 & 2

1:15 p.m.: Peralta 1 FF3, Chino Hills-Canyon

3:15 p.m.: Peralta 3 SS16, Winners 7 & 8

3:15 p.m.: Peralta 2 SS3, Esperanza-Marina

3:15 p.m.: Peralta 1 S55, Orange Lutheran – Mater Dei

5:15 p.m.: Peralta 3 SS12, Losers 7 & 8

5:30 p.m.: Peralta 2 SS10, Losers 3 & 4

5:30 p.m.: Peralta 1 SS6, Los Alamitos -Mission Viejo

7:30 p.m.: Peralta 3 SS11, Losers 5 & 6

7:30 p.m.: Peralta 2 SS15, Winners 5 & 6

7:30 p.m.: Peralta 1 SS14, Winners 3 & 4

YORBA REGIONAL PARK

10 a.m.: Yorba 3 FF4, Rio Mesa – Cathedral Catholic

10 a.m.: Yorba 2 FF8, ValleyV-Yucaipa

10 a.m.: Yorba 1 FF9, Poway-El Modena

Noon: Yorba 3 FF12, Losers 8 & 9

Noon: Yorba 2 FF5, JSerra-Santiago

12:15 p.m.: Yorba 1 FF6, Millikan-Grande Terrace

2:15 p.m.: Yorba 3 FF10, Losers 4 & 5

2:15 p.m.: Yorba 2 FF15, Winners 8 & 9

2:30 p.m.: Yorba 1 FF7, Vista Murrieta-Gahr

4:15 p.m.: Yorba 3 FF11, Losers 6 & 7

4:30 p.m.: Yorba 2 FF13, Winners 4 & 5

4:30 p.m.: Yorba 1 FF14, Winners 6 & 7

— Staff report

CAREW CLASSIC LOADED WITH TOP TEAMS

The Carew Classic has again attracted a talented field. Eight of the teams ranked in the Orange County Top 10 are part of the tournament.

The lineup includes No. 1 Los Alamitos, No. 2 Esperanza, No. 3 Pacifica, No. 4 Orange Lutheran, No. 6 Marina, No. 7 Huntington Beach, No. 8 Mission Viejo and No. 9 JSerra.

Saint Francis of Mountain View in Northern California and Los Alamitos are seeded first and second, followed by Murrieta Mesa and Norco.

Norco is ranked No. 1 this week in CIF-SS Division 1.

The tournament also features Rancho Bernardo, Poway and Mater Dei Catholic from San Diego and Arbor View and Centennial from Nevada.

“I’m so excited,” Orange Lutheran ace Brianne Weiss said of the Carew Classic. “You get to play teams that are not really in your area. I love that about the Carew.”

Tournament host Canyon is the defending champion. The event honors the former Canyon player and daughter of Hall of Fame baseball player Rod Carew. Michelle Carew died in 1996 at age 18 after fighting acute nonlymphocytic leukemia for several months.

The tournament awards the Michelle Carew Most Inspirational Award each year.

— Dan Albano 

NOTES

Eddy is retiring as the tournament director after this year. He said JR Bennett, a father of girls who played softball at Canyon, will take over as tournament director. …

The Woodbridge-hosted Alan Dugard Classic began last weekend and is scheduled to end Saturday. Capistrano Valley, Aliso Niguel, Irvine and Edison are among the teams in the gold bracket. …

Tesoro junior leadoff hitter Kiara Cisneros went 8 for 9 with four runs scored to help lead the Titans to a pair of victories at the La Mirada tournament on Saturday. …

Esperanza junior Taylor Shumaker belted her ninth home run in a 12-2 victory against Yorba Linda on Monday.

–Dan Albano

​ Orange County Register 

USC RB MarShawn Lloyd excited to join forces with Caleb Williams at last

• March 29, 2023

LOS ANGELES — From little league through battles at rival high schools Gonzaga and DeMatha, quarterback Caleb Williams and running back MarShawn Lloyd were always on opposite sides. But when they met in the handshake line, they always talked about one day teaming up.

So when Lloyd entered the transfer portal in January, Williams was quick to text his old friend with a recruiting pitch to USC. The message: “Come here now, let’s win a national championship and then let’s go to the league.”

“I was like, ‘Let’s go,’” Lloyd said. “I’m all for it.”

Lloyd spent three years at South Carolina before transferring to USC. He missed his freshman season with a torn ACL, then was worked into action the next year.

As a redshirt sophomore, he led the Gamecocks in rushing with 573 yards and nine touchdowns on 111 carries while playing in nine games. He also averaged 9.8 yards per reception while making 18 catches.

There was no shortage of options for Lloyd’s services when he entered the transfer portal following the season. Tennessee was the first to reach out, soon followed by Michigan State and Michigan.

But as he studied USC’s offense, he found the perceptions of the Trojans running a pass-heavy scheme to be unfounded.

“If you look at the numbers, the running back is getting the ball like 20 carries a game,” Lloyd said. “I just like the way that they execute at all levels as far as passing the ball, O-line blocking. I just felt like it would be a great fit.”

Since getting to USC, that’s been Lloyd’s main goal: To fit, like many of the transfers who found their place in the locker room a year ago.

He’s learning the offense from returning backs Austin Jones and Darwin Barlow, while simultaneously looking to teach freshmen A’Marion Peterson and Quinten Joyner the ins and outs of being a college athlete. He prefers to do so by example but understands that a word of wisdom is helpful for underclassmen.

And Lloyd knows he has to keep focused on the same prize that his teammates have been working toward.

“We all want to go to the league one day, obviously, but we all want to win a national championship,” Lloyd said. “They were so close last year – we, now – we were so close last year so I just feel like with these little missing pieces, we can be a really good team.”

He joins a crowded running back room. In addition to Jones – who started in the injured Travis Dye’s place last season – and Barlow, talented sophomore Raleek Brown returns from last year’s team.

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Brown is being asked to wear many hats for the Trojans, potentially lining up at receiver and returning kickoffs or punts. The addition of someone like Lloyd allows USC to be more creative in its usage of Brown.

“Having five guys back there that we’re pretty excited about, it’s allowed us to move Raleek around,” head coach Lincoln Riley said. “That room has been a real bright spot here in camp.”

But Lloyd has versatile skills, too, which is why Williams has long dreamed of pairing with him and is already scheming what they will do next season.

“He has good vision, he catches the ball well out of the backfield. We might flex him out,” Williams said. “He’ll get the ball in his hands and he’ll do his thing. He’s been doing the same thing since eighth grade.”

​ Orange County Register