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Weekend SAT—NHL Playoffs, Kings at Sharks, Game 5, 7:30 p.m., CSNC SAT —Nationwide Series — Nashville 300, Noon, ESPN PGA— The Heritage, 10 a.m., TGC; Noon, CBS MLB—Braves at Giants, SAT, 1 p.m., FOX; Sun, 1 p.m., CSNB MLB— A’s at Mariners, SAT, 6 p.m., CSNC+, SUN, 1 p.m., CSNC SUN—NBAPlayoffs, Lakers at Hornets, Game 4, 6:30 p.m., TNT Sports 1B Weekend April 23-24, 2011 49ers gear up for draft Tehama Tracker BASEBALL The Spartans won the consolation championship, Friday, at the 2011 Shasta Lake Bass Easter Baseball Classic, behind their third consecutive shutout. Zane Medeiros pitched four innings of one-hit ball as Red Bluff beat Whitney (Rocklin) 15-0 in five innings. Cody Case pitched the fifth inning. Modesto Ramirez was named to the All-Tournament team and went 2-for-4 in the final game, with a pair of RBIs. Gerald Baker doubled twice and drove in two runs. Robby Lasby went 3-for-3, Jordan Fox 2-for-3 and Storm Lewis 2-for-2 with a pair of RBIs. Red Bluff improved to 20-4 on the season and trav- el to Pleasant Valley on Tuesday. AMERICAN LEGION The Red Bluff American Legion Baseball Hall of Fame dinner and auction will have a new guest speaker. Former Cincinnati Red and Oroville graduate Gary Nolan is tentatively scheduled to speak at the dinner on May 15 at 5 p.m. Nolan was a 1972 All-Star and spent the major- ity of his career with the Reds, before a brief stint with the California Angels during his 10th and final big league sea- son. He played in the World Series four times, winning two title and racked up a 110-70 record. The American Legion is also trying to put together a list of all previous Bulls players back to 1977. Currently 230 names have been collected, but there is believed to be more. Former players should e-mail Coach Bono at bonoball@hotmail.com with their name, years played, cur- rent occupation and phone number. The information will be included in the official 2011 Red SANTA CLARA (AP) — A year ago, Trent Baalke guided the San Francisco 49ers through the draft for the first time and added a few key pieces to a team favored to win the NFC West and reach the play- offs after a long absence. His top two picks became immediate starters on a revamped offensive line, while several others also made impacts as rookies. In Baalke’s second go-round, after a recent promotion to general manager, his moves next week will be an even bigger deal: San Fran- cisco is in dire need of a difference- maker at quarterback. And this could be the best chance to find that person in a time of uncertainty with the lockout. ‘‘It’s a critical decision,’’ Baalke said this week. The 49ers have the No. 7 overall pick next Thursday night. They are likely to use that first selection on a defensive player such as outside linebacker and proven pass-rusher Von Miller or cornerback Patrick Peterson — the kind of shutdown defender the veteran unit could use in the backfield — if either is still on the board. Or, it could be reliable run-stopping linebacker Robert Quinn out of North Carolina. But Baalke and new coach and former NFL quarterback Jim Har- baugh will have their eyes on all the talented QBs in this draft to see who might fit well into their West Coast offense. While San Francisco has extend- ed an offer — an ‘‘olive branch’’ as Baalke put it — to 2005 No. 1 over- all pick Alex Smith to return and compete for the starting job this year, the Niners still hope to find their man of the future. ‘‘Obviously, we need a quarter- back,’’ Baalke said. ‘‘When I made that statement, that the quarterback of the future wasn’t on the roster, you simply look at the roster, and we have one quarterback under contract, and that’s David Carr. So MCT photos (Top) Cornerback Patrick Peterson (7) has many scouts excited. (Bottom) If Peterson is gone by the 49ers choice they may turn to Nebraska defensive back Prince Amukamara. we’ve got work to do, whether it’s in free agency, whether it’s this draft, or whether it’s in a trade. We’ve got to figure it out ... I’ve got tremendous confidence in Jim and the coaching staff to win football games with whoever we bring in here.’’ A college star at Michigan and a first-round draft pick taken 26th overall by Chicago in 1987, Har- baugh played 15 seasons in the NFL for the Bears, Colts, Ravens, Chargers and Panthers. During the evaluation process of potential draft picks, he put the QBs through a quiz in which he had them draw up plays and coverages to find out how they would handle different reads and progressions in the offense. ‘‘If you have the DNA of a quar- terback, you have the ability to fig- ure things out,’’ he said. ‘‘I don’t think there’s any one way to know if a guy’s going to be a Pro Bowl quarterback, even a starting quarter- back. There’s a lot of factors, and I’m not professing to have all the answers. You do the best you can and you try to evaluate the quarter- back like you do any other posi- tion.’’ Last year, Baalke selected right tackle Anthony Davis at No. 11 and then left guard Mike Iupati six spots later. Both started every game for a team that underachieved and fin- ished at 6-10 following a surprising 0-5 start. The 49ers haven’t had a winning season since their last trip to the playoffs in 2002. Filling in some missing parts through the draft is the only option See 49ERS, page 2B Bluff American Legion Baseball Program as part of an alumni page. All players, even those who played just one season, are asked to contribute. Maloofs still deciding future in Sacramento SACRAMENTO (AP) — The future of the Sacramen- to Kings is headed to another overtime. Kings co-owner Joe Maloof said Friday that his family is still deciding whether to move the franchise to Anaheim, and he confirmed that NBA officials will be in Sacramen- to again next week to further research the city’s viability. Maloof told The Associated Press he’s ‘‘as anxious as anybody’’ to find out if Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson can deliver on his promises for more sponsorship support and finally finance a plan for a new arena. He denied reports the team has already made a decision. ‘‘There’s been no decision made,’’ Maloof said. ‘‘As far as we’re concerned, we’re still looking at our options.’’ The Kings have until May 2 to request permission to relocate, and a majority vote by owners is needed to approve any move. While Johnson has become increas- ingly optimistic that the team will remain in Sacramento next season, Maloof said the team still wants to know more information about the region’s proposals. Part of that started to filter out this week. Johnson ended two days of meetings in Sacramento with NBA relocation committee chairman and Oklahoma City Thunder owner Clay Bennett and league counsel Har- vey Benjamin. Johnson’s desperate pitch to league owners a week earlier in New York was enough for NBA Com- missioner David Stern to send out the ‘‘fact-finding team,’’ and the mayor’s proposals when they arrived swayed the league to dispatch more representatives next week. The Kings released a statement that the franchise will wait for the committee’s findings before making a deci- sion. In the end, the Maloofs could still choose to put a vote before owners. ‘‘I don’t know that Kevin Johnson’s meeting in New York swayed the NBA one way or another, but I think that the NBA next week is going to go into Sacramento to ver- ify a lot of the promises Kevin Johnson made to the board,’’ Maloof said. ‘‘There were various sponsorship promises and a promise to show the board, once and for all, how a new arena not only will be planned, but financed.’’ For a league that usually rubber-stamps relocation requests, Sacramento certainly seems to have done all it can to fight back. MCT file photo North Carolina linebacker Robert Quinn may be around when the 49ers choose. Johnson presented more than $9.2 million in commit- ments for new advertising, ticket purchases and other financial support from regional businesses and other back- ers. He said that would help the Kings next season and allow the city more time to complete a plan to build — and finance — a new arena, which the cash-strapped city has refused to contribute public dollars toward for years. Once the meetings were finished, Johnson even rode with Bennett to the airport and said the league’s relocation committee chairman — who moved the Seattle SuperSon- ics to Oklahoma City three years ago — was impressed with Sacramento’s latest presentation. ‘‘They just said to us we delivered on what we were supposed to do,’’ Johnson said, adding that he hasn’t heard from the NBA or the Maloofs on a final decision. ‘‘It’s not a done deal yet. I’ve heard a lot of rumors. But I don’t think we’re at a point by any means that we can declare victory.’’ The league has no plans to send a similar investigative team to Anaheim. NBA spokesman Tim Frank confirmed officials will be back in Sacramento next week to continue studying Sacra- mento’s proposals. The league offered no further comment on the meetings other than to say: ‘‘Clay Bennett had informative meetings with the mayor, elected officials and business leaders and will be reporting back to the Reloca- tion Committee next week.’’ See KINGS, page 2B 2011 Shasta Lake Bass Easter Baseball Classic Sacramento Kings San Francisco 49ers