Homes

NEWPORT BEACH - As if John Cook needed more of an advantage at the Toshiba Classic this week. The 11-time PGA Tour winner, who grabbed his ninth victory on the Champions Tour in January, doesn't totally have an edge on the Newport Beach Country Club golf course. But it's safe to say Cook is in his comfort zone. He owns a home in nearby Corona del Mar and is just "five minutes," away from NBCC. Cook calls it a bonus, as he looks to add to his hot start on the Champions Tour this year.

With news of Anchor Trailer Port's potential closure to make way for condominiums, a statewide mobile home park advocacy group is trying to gain membership in Costa Mesa. The organization would like to assist the City Council if it looks into adopting an ordinance about future mobile home park closures. A representative with the nonprofit Golden State Manufactured-Home Owners League, or GSMOL, last month paid a visit to a small gathering at Greenleaf, a Westside mobile home park on Whittier Avenue.

COSTA MESA - Near the bleachers behind the backstop at Estancia High, the Paul Troxel Trophy was in full display. The trophy is what the Estancia and Costa Mesa baseball programs play for each year. The winner of the rivalry gets to ring the trophy toward the end of Orange Coast League play. A teenager rang it in the first inning of the league opener between the Eagles and Mustangs on Friday. It might have been premature to do so, but the sound is an all too familiar one for the Eagles.

HUNTINGTON BEACH — The Corona del Mar High boys' volleyball team hasn't practiced much since the start of the week. The campus lost power on Monday, cancelling the Sea Kings' practice. Coming off six matches at the Best of the West Tournament in Poway on Friday and Saturday, Coach Steve Conti drew up a short list of things he wanted his Sea Kings to work on. They had a nonleague home match to get ready for against Edison on Wednesday. They scrambled on Tuesday to find a place to prepare.

IRVINE - It was '80s night at Anteater Ballpark on Tuesday. Very few dressed the part for UC Irvine's baseball game. But in the bottom of the third inning, Cal State Bakersfield starter Taylor Aikenhead showed up throwing in the low 80s. The Anteaters finally undressed him. They collected four hits, half of them for extra bases, and four runs, two on a home run by junior Dominique Taylor. That was all the No. 21-ranked Anteaters needed. They took the lead and never looked back, winning the nonconference game, 6-1. It took the Anteaters (11-2)

IRVINE - Moments after storming the court following UC Irvine's 72-69 Big West Conference men's basketball over first-place Long Beach State on Saturday, numerous Anteater students aimed their cellphones skyward to capture an image of the scoreboard. But years from now, when they gather to retell the story of the ninth home conference victory in nine tries this season, it's the goose bumps, not a photo, that will jump to mind. For 'Eaters Coach Russell Turner, the lump materialized in his throat, as he began to try to relate what the four seniors honored before their final home game have given to his young program.

NEWPORT BEACH - At first glance, Steve Astor doesn't look like the Steve Astor from his first season as the Newport Harbor High boys' volleyball coach. "That isn't the first time," Astor said he's gotten that response. Astor said he has dropped about 100 pounds since last season. The facial hair is gone, too. You have to do a double take to recognize the 28-year-old Astor. Another thing you had to do a double take on was the Sailors' first result of the season. While the coach looked good, his team didn't on Friday at home against Laguna Beach.

IRVINE - In a momentum sport such as volleyball, there is a lot to be said for temperature control. The trick is to remain just cool enough not to freeze, especially in the polar extreme of a decisive fifth set. At UC Irvine, a history of flat-lining emotions has served as the metaphoric earmuffs that most often protect the Anteaters from cracking under pressure. "We're pretty good in Game 5," said UCI Coach David Kniffin, whose unflappable sideline presence, cultivated under years beside former coach John Speraw, helps set the tone for a program that added to its reputation for taming tumult Wednesday night.

Irvine police arrested a man Tuesday suspected of burglarizing homes in Newport Beach and south Irvine, authorities said. Brent Brodie, 18, of Irvine, was arrested after police discovered him sleeping in a stolen vehicle, according to a Irvine Police Department news release. Brodie is suspected of five home burglaries and two vehicle thefts over the past four weeks, police said. Police said Brodie checked homes to see if someone was there before entering through unlocked ground-floor windows.

Firefighters evacuated 10 Costa Mesa homes because of a gas leak Friday, authorities said. The leak was reported at about 11:50 a.m. in the 1500 block of Redlands Place after a construction crew punctured a 3/4-inch gas line while excavating on a lot, according to Costa Mesa Fire Department Battalion Chief Fred Seguin and Southern California Gas Co. spokeswoman Angela Sentiman. Because it was an active flow, firefighters from Costa Mesa and Newport Beach evacuated the area, he said.