Diamond

The atmosphere aligned all weekend for the UC Irvine baseball team, which bashed its way to a season-opening three-game sweep of visiting Nevada, which it outscored a combined 39-8. The same forces that helped the two teams avoid the rain storms that forced weekend postponements and/or cancellations elsewhere in Southern California, also helped create a dream scenario in the final inning of Game 3 on Sunday at Anteater Ballpark. UCI senior Brian Hernandez, who was a star at third base in all three games, ventured the roughly 40 feet from the infield dirt to the mound, where he would not only make his debut as the team's closer, but his inaugural stint on the collegiate bump.

Michael Miller Matt Cline, the shortstop on the Orange Coast College baseball team, will graduate next week, but that won't stop him from returning in the fall to test the new campus field. As an infielder, Cline has struggled the last two years with the aged dirt on his school's baseball diamond. Over the decades, it has hardened to the point where even a weak grounder can take unpredictable hops. By the end of this year, however, Orange Coast College will sport a completely renovated diamond -- and, possibly, a few more easy outs.

Ted Shaffrey NEWPORT BEACH -- Police are warning local jewelers to keep a sharp eye out for a new state-of-the-art type of fake diamond. At least one longtime Newport Beach pawn shop and two Los Angeles jewelers have been fooled into buying the phony stones in recent months. The man-made sand compound, called moissanite, not only looks exactly like a real diamond but stands up to traditional methods of detecting fakes, said Sgt. Mike McDermott of the Newport Beach police department.

Barry Faulkner With cherubic cheeks, a "Bambino" physique and the boundless joy evident in those for whom the real world is still a premonition, Carlos Franco plays regularly in a well-kept sandbox of grass and dirt, outlined by chalk with a big bump in the middle. He arrives early and is frequently chased from the premises by nightfall, in clothing usually stained by all manner of the landscape. And then there are game days. In literal terms, Franco is a senior standout on the Costa Mesa High baseball team.

Tentative plans for Sunset Ridge Park have pitted soccer and baseball enthusiasts against each other in a battle for field space in Newport Beach. Members of the group Soccer Families 4 Newport Fields are “disappointed” with plans to include a baseball diamond in park designs, said Jeff Braun, regional commissioner of AYSO Region 97 and Soccer Families 4 Newport Fields organizer. The baseball diamond would overlap with two soccer fields planned for the park, keeping soccer teams from getting as much use out of the fields in the spring.

Bob Koop didn’t keep a low profile as he sold millions of dollars worth of high-end Newport Beach real estate over the last 40 years. It was his habit to drive prospective clients around in a bright red Rolls-Royce, wearing a diamond-studded gold ring that weighs about as much as a small jogging weight and a wide bracelet that spells “KOOP” out in big block letters with 10 carats of diamond. These were staples of his image both in Newport Beach and in Las Vegas where he was a big-money craps player.

Newport Beach police are looking for a thief who stole nearly $700,000 in women's jewelry from a home in a gated community. On Tuesday, a woman in her 40s noticed that her diamond necklaces, bracelets and earrings had been removed from her closet, according to Sgt. Steve Burdette. She had left town for the holidays Dec. 22 and returned several weeks ago, but had not looked inside her closet until Tuesday, Burdette said. The woman lives in the 100 block of Old Course Drive, in the One Ford Road neighborhood.

Diamond Diamond, a 4-month-old neutered black cat, is double lucky as he has been rescued twice. He and his three brothers and sister were first rescued by a senior citizen. He was born wild and saved from being trapped by this good citizen who brought him in. Because he and his littermates were born wild, most shelters would not have given them a chance to live and find a loving home. On Labor Day, Diamond was rescued a second time when he became sick and was near death.

Greg Risling NEWPORT BEACH -- Alice Beveridge would argue that the U.S. Postal Service, along with diamonds, are her best friends. One week before she and her husband were going to celebrate their 40th anniversary last month, Beveridge lost the diamond from her engagement ring. She searched frantically for two days until she received a call Friday, Aug. 13 from a postal service supervisor who told her they had found the diamond. So despite the Friday the 13th superstition, it was Beveridge's lucky day. "I would have been very disappointed to celebrate our anniversary without my ring," she said.

UC Irvine junior Matt Summers always wanted to be the center of attention on the baseball field. He just always figured he could do so without operating in the middle of the diamond. But after reluctantly giving up his center-field dreams this season, he has become the Anteaters' ace starting pitcher, an All-American candidate, and the likely Big West Conference Pitcher of the Year. The 6-foot-1, 205-pound right-hander is 9-2 with a 1.90 earned-run average entering his final regular-season start, Friday at 6:30 p.m. against Long Beach State in the first of a three-game series at Anteater Ballpark.

The atmosphere aligned all weekend for the UC Irvine baseball team, which bashed its way to a season-opening three-game sweep of visiting Nevada, which it outscored a combined 39-8. The same forces that helped the two teams avoid the rain storms that forced weekend postponements and/or cancellations elsewhere in Southern California, also helped create a dream scenario in the final inning of Game 3 on Sunday at Anteater Ballpark. UCI senior Brian Hernandez, who was a star at third base in all three games, ventured the roughly 40 feet from the infield dirt to the mound, where he would not only make his debut as the team's closer, but his inaugural stint on the collegiate bump.

Newport Beach police are looking for a thief who stole nearly $700,000 in women's jewelry from a home in a gated community. On Tuesday, a woman in her 40s noticed that her diamond necklaces, bracelets and earrings had been removed from her closet, according to Sgt. Steve Burdette. She had left town for the holidays Dec. 22 and returned several weeks ago, but had not looked inside her closet until Tuesday, Burdette said. The woman lives in the 100 block of Old Course Drive, in the One Ford Road neighborhood.

In December 1969, I was hired as a temporary holiday employee at Sears, South Coast Plaza. I was a senior in college, and needed work because I'd just been laid off by a building supply store. I suspect that I was hired into Sears' jewelry department because of my superior retail sales background, and also because I didn't have a neck tattoo. My "background" consisted of hawking paint, wallpaper and spackling paste. Jewelry was an alien world for neophyte Sears Employee No. 1455.

While former UC Irvine baseball coach John Savage prepares his UCLA team for its College World Series opener today, Anteaters head man Mike Gillespie and his staff are following the development of players who will try to help UCI make a run at Omaha in 2011. Gillespie said seven of the eight UCI players selected in the Major League draft last week have signed and departed for their minor league assignments, while All-American pitcher Danny Bibona is still negotiating with the St. Louis Cardinals.

While former UC Irvine baseball coach John Savage prepares his UCLA team for its College World Series opener today, Anteaters head man Mike Gillespie and his staff are following the development of players who will try to help UCI make a run at Omaha in 2011. Gillespie said seven of the eight UCI players selected in the Major League draft last week have signed and departed for their minor league assignments, while All-American pitcher Danny Bibona is still negotiating with the St. Louis Cardinals.

An impressive $350,000 was raised at the 2010 spring benefit for Mariner’s Christian School. Organizers labeled the party, “Denim and Diamonds,” attracting 430 devoted guests at the Balboa Bay Club & Resort in Newport Beach. The crowd came together to raise much-needed funds earmarked for technological upgrades for every classroom at the private Christian school. “I am continually impressed by the support of the Mariners’ community,” said interim Headmaster Todd Perkins . “Funds raised at this benefit will enable Mariner’s Christian School to reach a higher standard academically, providing our students with the education they have come to expect.

A sense of finality typically generates greater urgency for high school athletes competing in their senior year. But a sharper focus for Newport Harbor High shortstop Austin Wobrock, a big reason why the Sailors are off to a 7-0 start heading into today’s Sunset League baseball opener against visiting Fountain Valley, has a more practical explanation. “I have [contact lenses] now that I never wore last year,” Wobrock said. “I love them. I can see the ball, like, perfect.

Tim Bryan, the assistant principal of Diamond Bar High School, will take over as the principal of Corona del Mar High School this fall. Newport-Mesa Unified School District officials picked Bryan to replace outgoing Principal Fal Asrani less than a month after Asrani resigned to take a position as assistant superintendent of the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools. Bryan was picked from a pool of more than 70 candidates who applied for the position, according to district spokeswoman Laura Boss.