A fresh start for Wolfgang

Cal Lutheran basketball star earns head coaching gig




No games. No problem.

Acorn athletes and teams continue to make headlines during a global pandemic.

Let’s do this:

THE WOLF OF ST. BONNIE

He’s back.

Wolfgang Wood, who starred on the hardwood for the men’s basketball team at Cal Lutheran, was introduced as the new head coach of the St. Bonaventure boys’ basketball team on Zoom on Tuesday.

This is Wood’s first head coaching gig. He previously assisted at his alma mater, Santa Margarita, and he was also on the staff at Newbury Park in 2017-18. Those Panthers went 20-6 overall.

Wood comes from basketball royalty.

His dad, Leon Wood, is an NBA referee who paced Team USA in assists during the run to gold at the 1984 Olympics. Some guy named Michael Jordan led the Stars & Stripes in scoring at those Games.

Wolfgang Wood’s mom, Tia, played basketball at UCLA, while his sister, Whitney, played hoops at Seton Hall.

Wood takes the reins from Pat Frank, who directed the Seraphs for seven seasons.

GOING, GOING, GONE

Shay Whitcomb was the last player selected in the abbreviated five-round Major League Baseball virtual draft on June 11.

Whitcomb, a junior shortstop for UC San Diego, prepped at Newbury Park High. The Houston Astros* plucked Whitcomb with the 160th and final pick of the draft.

This spring, Whitcomb notched a .333 batting average with 23 runs, 20 hits, 15 RBI and five home runs. He was the conference player of the year in 2019.

Whitcomb is the highest drafted position player in UCSD history and third-highest in school history overall. The Tritons, who previously toiled in Division II, transitioned into Division I this summer.

Adam Kerner, a catcher out of the University of San Diego, signed a free agent rookie contract with the hometown San Diego Padres.

Kerner, an Agoura resident, played at Oaks Christian. Kerner and Toreros teammate Jake Miller of Newbury Park were profiled in the Acorn on May 14.

Pepperdine pitcher Wil Jensen signed a free agent rookie deal with the San Francisco Giants.

SKIPPER, OUT

John Gonzalez, the head coach of Camarillo High’s baseball team for eight seasons, has stepped down from his post.

“Today, I step away as head coach of Camarillo Baseball. It has been an honor to get to lead this program for the past (eight) years and to have been a small part of its great legacy,” Gonzalez wrote on Twitter on June 19. “Thank you to all the players for their hard work and dedication. Thank you to the coaches for tirelessly working and mentoring the players to help the players succeed. . . . And thank you to the parents and Camarillo baseball community for their support and making this place so special.”

Gonzalez compiled a 128-78 record with the Scorpions. His teams captured three league titles and made an appearance in the CIF-Southern Section Division 2 playoff semifinals in 2018. Camarillo won seven of its first 10 games this spring before the season was canceled due to the coronavirus.

In his last game as skipper, Gonzalez guided the Scorpions to a 6-1 win against Agoura on March 11 on the road.

BEAR DOWN

Wesley Anusiem will play Division I football.

Anusiem, a cornerback out of Ventura College and Royal High, committed to play football for the University of Central Arkansas Bears.

“Few know how far I’ve come to get to this point!” Anusiem wrote on Twitter on June 22.

Anusiem led all California junior college players with 15 pass break-ups during the 2019 fall season for Ventura College. He added four interceptions and 49 tackles.

The star defensive back helped the Pirates go 8-3 this season and win a conference championship. He notched a game-high 12 tackles during the Joe Kapp Real Estate Beach Bowl, a 46-39 setback to Cerritos College on Nov. 23.

AROUND THE HORN

Calabasas High hired Shaun Kort as the school’s varsity baseball head coach. Kort takes over for Dan Cey, who lasted two years. Former skipper Thomas Cassidy is currently listed on the team’s website as an assistant.

Kort assisted at Harvard- Westlake the past nine years, and he played at El Camino Real High and the University of Nevada- Reno.

Luke Reisig, a Moorpark High grad, is the school’s new boys’ water polo head coach. Reisig takes over for Peter Daland, who took the gig at Agoura.

Reisig, who assisted at MHS the past two years, recently earned his degree in chemistry from Cal Lutheran.

Moorpark College hired Keith Higgins to lead the men’s basketball team. Higgins has been a head coach at Compton College and Reseda High. Billy Hoffer, a Royal High senior and one of the best players to ever suit up for the Highlanders, is bound for Moorpark College.

The Conejo Oaks, a college wood-bat baseball team that plays home games at Cal Lutheran, suspended its summer season. The Oaks, who captured the California Collegiate League championship in 2018, plan to return to the diamond in 2021.

To end this report with a slam dunk . . .

Tyler Cartaino, a Newbury Park High graduate, is the Pacific West Conference Men’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year out of Chaminade University.

A senior wing for Chaminade, Cartaino led the conference in scoring 20.8 points per game while notching a cumulative 3.795 GPA. He spent this year as a grad student after earning a degree in accounting in May 2019.

Email story ideas to sports editor Eliav Appelbaum at eliav@theacorn.com, or reach him on Twitter @EliavAppelbaum.