Time for Colfax baseball alums to warm up

While Colfax High athletic followers are getting revved up for the start of the basketball playoffs next week, Falcon baseball coach Mike McCabe is trying to get the word out for the school's alumni baseball players to start loosening up their arms.That's because Colfax High's alumni baseball game is rapidly approaching with the benefit contest set for 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 26 at Quigley Field. The game is held in conjunction with the baseball team's annual pancake breakfast that will kick off the day's activities from 8 to 10:30 a.m. in the school's cafeteria.For a $5 donation, the baseball team will serve up a country breakfast of eggs, sausage, pancakes, orange juice and coffee. In addition, several nifty raffle prizes will be given out and a night's use of a suite for a River Cats game at Raley Field will be auctioned off.Alumni players interested in partaking in this year's game can contact McCabe at (530) 637-4834. According to CHS baseball sources, it's rumored that JV baseball coach Mike Pitz, himself a former CHS star and veteran farm hand in the Los Angeles Dodgers system, is already hitting the radar gun at 90 MPH in anticipation of the upcoming game. Wrestling crab feed March 12 Speaking of fundraisers, the Colfax High wrestling program, in conjunction with the Green Machine youth program, will be hosting its popular Crab Feed, Saturday, March 12 at the Sierra Vista Community Center in Colfax. The event will run from 6 to 11 p.m. For ticket information visit the wrestling team's website at www.colfaxwrestling.org. Holm gathering MondayOn a somber note, it was sad to hear of the passing of Colfax area native and friend Eric Holm, who died in Sacramento last Sunday at the age of 46 after a brief illness.Holm, a 1982 Colfax High graduate was a genuine "good guy" who would do anything for a friend in need. He came up through the local baseball ranks from Little League to Babe Ruth to Big League. He was also an all-league player at CHS who went on to play at Sierra College. Following his high school days, Holm made his mark with the Colfax Fireballs men's fast pitch team where he patrolled center field during the team's 1980s and 1990s success, which included a run to the 1988 ASA North Pacific Regional championship.In 2009, he was inducted into the Colfax Labor Day Tournament's Hall of Fame. A memorial for Eric will be held on Monday, Feb. 21 from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Winchester Country Club Swim & Tennis Center in Meadow Vista.Condolences to his father Jerry, mother Arlene, brother Brian, sister Sheila and children Rachel and Chris. Trivia funLast week's answer to the question about the four sites that Lincoln's Zebras defeated Colfax in the 1970-71 boys basketball season was correctly guessed by David Miles. He ought to know, he was a standout on the Falcons' Pioneer League co-championship squad that season. Miles is also a trivia answer himself as he holds one of the longest standing hoop records in CHS basketball annals as his 20.5 career scoring average for varsity competition hasn't been remotely approached over the last three decades plus. Oh, the answer for last week's question was Wheatland during the Wheatland Tournament, Lincoln's R.A. Lee Gymnasium, Colfax High's gym and in a playoff game to determine the league's representative to the Burney Small School TOC, Sierra College. This week's question is another dandy. Colfax High's varsity boys basketball coaches over the years have been Dave Ingram, Skip Houser, Bill Farrell, Jim Lutz, Fred Kern, Ron Pucci, Dan Hicks, Wade Wolff and Mike O'Connell. Of these coaches, which have served more than one stint as CHS's varsity hoop coach? E-mail answers to info@foothillpreps.com.