Spring Sports : BASEBALL

Eight Southland players were invited to the USA Baseball junior team trials to be held July 21-28 in Joplin, Mo. Milton Bradley (Long Beach Poly), Jose Garcia (Baldwin Park), Mike Hessman and Mike Kolbach (Mater Dei), Julian Leyva (Arlington), Ryan Owens (Sonora), Brandon Rogers (El Cajon), and Al Thieleman (Vista) were among the first 38 players invited. The team will be announced July 28, and those players selected will travel to Cuba on Aug. 9-19 in the IBA Junior World Championships. . . . L.A. Baptist earned the No. 1 seeding in the Southern Section Division V playoffs. The Knights could also move to No. 1 in state Division V rankings since the former top-rated team, Dos Palos, lost twice last week. L.A. Baptist has scored 347 runs for an average of 14 per game. The Knights already rank No. 5 on the all-time state single-season list and may threaten the record of 388 set in 1949 by San Diego. . . . The Southern Section finals won’t be held at Anaheim Stadium this season because of a scheduling conflict with the Angels. The games will be split between Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach’s Blair Field on May 31 and June 1.