Pickler Closing In on Victory No. 400

Scott Pickler, the Cypress baseball coach, is nearing his 400th victory at the college.

Pickler, who is in his 13th season and wears No. 13, starts the week with a record of 398-187-1.

He will probably reach the milestone while Cypress plays in the Hancock tournament in Santa Maria.

The Chargers (20-6) play Wednesday against Merced and Hancock, and Thursday take on Los Angeles Harbor and Fresno.

Pickler, who coached at Loara and Savanna highs before coming to Cypress, led the Chargers to state titles in 1991 and 1994. The 1994 team set a Cypress record for victories with 44.

His Cypress teams also won conference championships in 1989, 1994 and 1996.

Cypress also reached the state title game last year only to lose to Rancho Santiago.

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Basketball: Three Orange County players are scheduled to take part in the community college game, which is one of three at the Eddie Jones Southern California all-star basketball classic April 15 at Long Beach State’s Pyramid.

Irvine Valley’s Daryl Todd, the most valuable player in the Orange Empire Conference, Orange Coast’s Duane Curtis and Cypress’ Willie Allen are expected to play in the game scheduled at 9 p.m.

Todd is a forward and Allen and Curtis are guards.

There are high school games scheduled at 5 and 7 p.m.

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Ken Swearingen, a former Saddleback football coach, was inducted to the California community college football coaches hall of fame Saturday in a ceremony in San Ramon.

Swearingen led Saddleback to national championships in 1985 and 1992. He had three unbeaten seasons and 10 more with only one loss. His teams won 48 consecutive home games between 1976 and 1986.