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ByRichGreene rgreene@redbluffdailynews.com @richgreenenews on Twitter RED BLUFF ApairofRedBluff Spartans are getting the oppor- tunity to play baseball at a four- year college and they won't have to go far to do it. Kyle Martin and Chase Root signed their Letters of Intent Thursday to attend Simpson University in Redding. The signings are part of a new emphasis the program plans to put on recruiting lo- cal players as it tries to recover from a 1-43 season. "There's a lot of kids locally who can play baseball and they don't get the shot," Tating said. Red Bluff Spartans Athletic Director Brad Wagner said hav- ing a local university visit local schools is wonderful in that it will be providing more opportu- nities for future Spartans. "A lot of times the metropoli- tan areas don't get up this way. Unless the kids go to a showcase in Los Angeles or Sacramento they're not seen," he said. Despite last season's record there's optimism in the Red Hawks program after the school signed Greg Cadaret to be the head coach for the NAIA school. Cadaret pitched 11 years in the major leagues, including with the Oakland Athletics in the 1988 World Series, a team he would later cover as an ana- lyst for Comcast Sports. Since moving to the Red- ding area in 1994 he has en- sconced himself in the local baseball community coaching in the Golden Baseball League, the Redding Colt 45s, Foothill High School and American Le- gion teams. Martin, a pitcher who went 7-3 with a 1.70 ERA for Red Bluff his senior year, said he is excited to be working with a big leaguer for the 1-on-1 teaching he will receive on the mound. He'll also be working with a familiar face and battery mate of the past 10 years in Root. Tating said the graduated Red Bluff catcher is a good re- ceiver with good arm speed and mechanics to second base, who also hits well. The two will join what will be an unusually large class of in- coming recruits after Simpson finished last season with just 16 players on its roster. "I'm most excited to turn Simpson's baseball season around," Martin said. "I know being a pitcher you can't help every game, but if I can help every three games at least that would just be great to put forth my effort and give them every- thing I could to bring that sea- son around and try to turn this into a winning ball club." Root said he can't wait to meet all the new players and coaching staff as well as just starting college in general. Tating said the Red Hawks wanted to bring in players who BASEBALL SIMPSONUSIGNS SPARTANSBATTERY Martin, Root sign Letters of Intent to join Red Hawks CONTRIBUTED Graduated Red Bluff Spartans Kyle Martin and Chase Root sign their Letters of Intent to attend Simpson University on baseball scholarships Thursday. They are joined by their mothers Roxanne Coley and Heidi Root, Spartans Assistant Coach Sinclair and Spartans Athletic Director Brad Wagner. By Josh Dubow The Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO All-Star Scott Kazmir capped the best first-half of his career with one of his best starts yet. Kazmir struck out nine in seven scoreless innings to help the Oakland Athletics win the annual Bay Bridge series by beat- ing the San Francisco Giants 6-1 on Thursday. "I felt good from pitch one," Kazmir said. "I felt comfortable. I was able to get some quick outs and use all of my pitches." Josh Donaldson hit a two-run homer and Stephen Vogt drove in three runs for the A's, who won three of four in the two-city se- ries that began Monday night in Oakland. The A's (58-34) have won seven of eight overall and have matched the best start in Oakland history. Tim Hudson (7-6) was unable to make it out of the sixth inning and lost his fourth straight deci- sion for the floundering Giants. San Francisco has lost 15 of its past 19 home games and hasn't won consecutive games here in more than a month. "We're not playing nearly the kind of baseball we want to play, for sure," Hudson said. "We just have to improve in a number of BASEBALL A' s be at G ia nt s 6- 1 to w in B ay B ri dg e se ri es ERIC RISBERG — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Oakland Athletics relief pitcher Fernando Abad celebrates at the end of their interleague baseball game against the San Francisco Giants on Thursday in San Francisco. A'S6,GIANTS1 Up next: Giants vs. Arizona When: Friday, 7:15 p.m. Up next: A's at Seattle When: Friday, 7:10 p.m. THESCORE By Rich Greene rgreene@redbluffdailynews.com @richgreenenews on Twitter REDDING The Sacramento Kings' Derrick Williams be holding a skill academy July 28-31 at Shasta High School. The cost of the camp for boys and girls ages 9-18 is $225 and runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. each day. A separate "Little Dribbler" camp for young hoopsters ages 5-8 will run from 9 a.m. to noon and cost $125. Williams was the second over- all pick in the 2011 NBA Draft af- ter being named a first team All- American while playing at the University of Arizona. He was traded to Sacramento in Novem- ber 2013. "Derrick is the ultimate exam- ple of hard work paying off as he has constantly been under-rated through his career," his camp flyer says. "This hard work will be the trademark for his camp and pres- ent in his hand-picked camp staff. The camp will include per- sonal instruction from Williams and the rest of his staff with de- velopmentally appropriate train- ing for all players. Individual and team compe- titions will be held along with a question and answer session from Williams speaking about what it takes to make it to the NBA. Every camper will also have a chance to receive Williams' auto- graph and take a photo with him. The camp includes a Nike camp shirt and other giveaways from Sole Collector, Nike and VII Grand. Shasta Union High School Dis- trict is hosting the camp spon- sored by Nike and Silverthorn Resort. For more information email ss- chuster@suhsd.net. BASKETBALL Kings' star Williams hosting skills camp By Brian Mahoney The Associated Press Signing day has arrived in the NBA, though the biggest free agents aren't rushing to grab their pens. Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh might be waiting on LeBron James — isn't everybody? — before making their decisions. There's been no indica- tion when James plans to do so. In the meantime, Kyle Lowry and Marcin Gortat signed con- tracts to remain with their teams, while Chandler Parsons and Gor- don Hayward inked offer sheets that could land them on new ones. Teams and players could nego- tiate and agree to deals since July 1, but contracts couldn't be signed or trades made until Thursday, af- ter the moratorium period ended and next season's salary cap was set. Most of the best free agents have usually committed by the time they can sign, though that hasn't been the case this year, largely because of the holdup caused by Miami's Big Three and Anthony. Bosh may want to wait on the word from James to decide whether he wants to remain in Miami. Anthony is perhaps hold- ing out in case there is some way he, too, could end up partnering FREE AGENCY NBA signing day arrives, but action moves slowly Vincenzo Nibali says he senses other contenders are looking for opportunities to strip him of cycling's most coveted jersey, but remains calm as he holds onto the lead going into Stage 7. TOUR DE FRANCE Sensingrivals,calm Nibali defends Tour lead FULL STORY ON PAGE B2 Couldn't find the game results you were looking for? Check out our website for additional sports stories, both national and local, about your favorite local teams and more. ON THE WEB Find late breaking sports online REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM/SPORTS "I'm most excited to turn Simpson's baseball season around. I know being a pitcher you can't help every game, but if I can help every three games at least that would just be great...." — Kyle Martin, pitcher The Red Bluff Bulls under-15 American Legion team will host a doubleheader at 1p.m. Saturday against visiting Sonoma. The games will be played at Red Bluff Union High School. AMERICAN LEGION Bulls under-15 team host game Saturday Local golfer and "Big Break" star Isaac Sanchez will host the second annual Swinging with Sasquatch golf fundrais- er July 26at Sevillano Links in Corning. For more information call (916) 984-3764. GOLF 2nd annual Swinging with Sasquatch event INTENT PAGE 2 BAY BRIDGE PAGE 2 SIGN PAGE 2 » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, July 11, 2014 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1