Community College Baseball: All-OEC baseball picks

UC Irvine signee Jackson Willeford, a sophomore second baseman at Cypress College, has been named Orange Empire Conference Co-Player of the Year in baseball.

Willeford is joined on the first team by Orange Coast College standouts Art Vidrio, Tommy Bell, Dominic Purpura and Jeff Nellis.

OCC’s Jack Kruger, Nick Grimes and Chris Prescott were second-team honorees.

Willeford, a bounce-back from the University of Arizona, hit .413 in conference to help the Chargers finish second. He had three home runs and 14 runs batted in in conference play. Overall, Willeford hit .378 with three homers and 26 RBIs and collected 17 extra-base hits in the regular season.

Bell, a repeat first-team honoree, led OCC in the regular season in RBIs (26), hits (43), stolen bases (nine), doubles (12), extra-base hits (16) and slugging (.500). He had two homers and hit .331. In conference play, the sophomore right fielder hit .349 with two homers, 14 RBIs and 18 runs.

Purpura, a sophomore left-handed pitcher who worked primarily in relief, was a second-team selection as a freshman. Overall, he was 3-1 with seven saves and a 2.91 earned-run average in the regular season. Against conference foes, he was 2-1 with four saves and a 3.27 ERA.

Vidrio, a sophomore left-handed pitcher, was 5-0 with a 2.84 ERA in conference and 7-1 with a 2.96 ERA overall in the regular season, when OCC finished 20-15, 12-9 in the OEC, good for third place.

Nellis, a bounce-back from Reno, hit a team-best .426 in conference with eight of his 12 RBIs. Overall, the sophomore shortstop batted .343 with 17 runs in the regular season.

Prescott, a freshman center fielder, hit .367 with five RBIs in OEC play. Overall, he hit .323 with 12 runs and two stolen bases.

Grimes, a freshman third baseman, hit .325 in conference play, 25 points better than his overall regular-season average. He had seven of his nine RBIs in OEC games.

Kruger, a sophomore catcher who played last season at the University of Oregon, hit .311 with 12 RBIs I conference play and .305 with 18 RBIs overall in the regular season. Overall, he had 26 runs, five stolen bases and nine extra-base hits.

OCC opens the Southern California Regional playoffs on Friday, when it begins a best-of-three series at Long Beach City College at 2 p.m.

— Barry Faulkner