Boesch Earning His Stripes

Outfielder Brennan Boesch, who grew up playing in the Palisades Pony Baseball Association and enjoyed a stellar prep career at Harvard-Westlake High, is nearing the end of a productive rookie season with the Detroit Tigers. Through Tuesday, Boesch had played in 120 games with a .261 batting average and .430 slugging percentage. He had 111 hits with 24 doubles, three triples, 14 home runs and 63 RBI. The 6′ 4,” 235-lb. left-hander made his major league debut on April 23, going 2-for-4 with a double in a 5-4 loss at Texas. His first homer was a grand slam one week later off of Angels’ starter Joel Pineiro. Boesch was named the American League’s Rookie of the Month in May. In 2006, his junior year at UC Berkeley, Boesch hit .313 with 35 runs, 11 doubles, 10 homers and 42 RBI in 54 games, earning All-Pac 10 Conference honorable mention. * * * * * Schwartz Starts Carolina?s Opener Palisades High graduate Geoff Schwartz started at right tackle for the Carolina Panthers in their NFL opener last Sunday against the New York Giants. The 24-year-old Palisadian, who won the Post Cup Award as outstanding senior athlete at PaliHi in 2004 and went on to be a three-year starting tackle at the University of Oregon, started the last three games for the Panthers in 2009–all victories–when Jeff Otah went down with a season-ending knee injury. Carolina lost, 31-18, Sunday in the first game at the New Meadowlands Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. He played the first 13 games last year on special teams, even returning a kickoff 16 yards. Drafted by Carolina in the seventh round in 2008 (241st overall), Schwartz made the practice squad that season. The 6′ 6,” 331-lb. Schwartz wears No. 74 and is slated to start this Sunday’s home opener against Tampa Bay (kickoff at 10 a.m. Pacific time). Meanwhile, Geoff’s younger brother Mitchell, a starting tackle at California, is off to a fast start for the Bears, who have opened the season with blowout wins over UC Davis and Colorado. Mitchell, a 6? 5,? 310-lb. junior, has started all 28 games possible since the beginning of the 2008 season after he red-shirted in 2007. At PaliHi he was voted L.A. City Offensive Lineman of the Year, Western League Lineman of the Year and made the PrepStar All-West Region team as a senior.