Fresno Unified trio on All-State baseball team

Fresno Unified, with an unprecedented honor for Sunnyside High, hit a home run Monday on Cal-Hi Sports’ overall All-State baseball team.

Three Central Section representatives made Cal-Hi’s 30-man elite team and all came from Fresno Unified, in Sunnyside catcher/pitcher Jose Barraza, Fresno outfielder Anthony Hawkins and Bullard pitcher/first baseman Blake Quinn.

Making the second team were Clovis West pitcher/first baseman Tyler Ferguson, Clovis East pitcher/outfielder Isaiah Yates and Centennial’s Fresno State-bound infielder, Brody Russell.

This was Cal-Hi’s highest level of baseball recognition after previously announcing its All-State Underclass, Small Schools and Medium Schools teams.

And Barraza is the first Sunnyside player to make the overall All-State team in the program’s 12-year history.

“To make All-State is a tough thing to do, especially in this state,” Wildcats coach Jeff Prieto said. “It’s a really big deal for the school, it’s a big deal for the program, and it’s a huge deal for him.”

Barraza, the first area high school player taken four weeks ago in the Major League amateur draft (seventh round, Chicago White Sox), hit .493 with eight home runs, and also struck out 104 in 70 innings.

“And he’s not even a pitcher,” Prieto said of the 6-foot-2, 220-pounder. “And had he played in any other park, he would have had 15 home runs; we play in a graveyard. He also put up monster numbers with very little support in the lineup.”

Hawkins is the section’s career home run leader, with 36. He hit .551 with 11 home runs this year as Fresno went 28-3 and placed second in D-III.

Quinn, as an 11-game winner, led Bullard to the section Division I championship. Headed to Fresno State, he won all three playoff games for the 26-7 Knights, including one in relief.

By Andy Boogaard