Today will be national signing day for many area athletes, and there is no question that this will be one of the best years for baseball and boys basketball.

Rocklin's Brendan Lane, who will sign his national letter of intent with UCLA at 4:45 p.m. today in the Thunder gym, leads perhaps the best crop of senior basketball players in area history.

Other high-profile players who have given verbal commitments include Sacramento High's Chase Tapley with San Diego State; Pleasant Grove's Xavier Thames with Washington State; and Franklin's Ryan Sypkens with UC Davis.

At least 11 area baseball players, including four from defending Sac-Joaquin Section Division I champion Jesuit, are also expected to put their signatures to paper for this coming fall.

They are Jesuit's Jimmy Bosco and Ponderosa's Matt Evanoff to Cal; Yuba City's Max Stassi and Davis' Cody Keefer to UCLA; Jesuit's Andrew Susac and Danny Hayes to Oregon State; Jesuit's Brock Simon and Rocklin's Patrick Stover to Santa Clara; Elk Grove's Justin Charles to Fresno State; Placer's Joel Thys to Long Beach State; and Elk Grove's Patrick O'Rourke to Pacific.

Stassi and Susac may wind up somewhere other than college this summer. They are considered among the top high school catching prospects in the country and could be high picks in the June pro baseball draft.

All have been invited to a signing celebration 6:15 tonight at the Croatian-American Cultural Center, 3730 Auburn Blvd., Sacramento. It's being sponsored by the Vipers Amateur Athletic Union traveling baseball club.

Hillmen to challenge forfeits – Placer High School is seeking a reversal of Sac-Joaquin Section Commissioner Pete Saco's ruling that the Hillmen forfeit three football games because of a failure to file the proper paperwork for a student who transferred from Bethel High School in Vallejo to the Auburn school during the summer.

The school will go before the California Interscholastic Federation's Appeals Office appeals panel at 10 a.m. Thursday in Lodi.

Sacramento attorney Art Woodward, who has a son on the Placer team, is among those representing the school.

Placer had to forfeit league wins to Mesa Verde and El Dorado and a nonleague win to Rosemont because Saco ruled that veteran Hillmen athletic director Mark Lee failed to file a hardship transfer waiver request for the junior as required under section bylaws.

Woodward thinks the ruling can be challenged on several grounds.

Among them: 1). The decision was too harsh, given the transgression; and 2). The athlete who transferred, in being a foster child who was moved under a juvenile court order, should have had immediate eligibility under provisions of a state law.

"I don't think the boys got a fair deal," Woodward said. "We're trying to convince the CIF that these sanctions are inappropriate."

Despite the two league losses, Placer (3-6, 2-3) still has a postseason shot even if the section doesn't reinstate the victories.

If the Hillmen can defeat unbeaten Whitney on Friday and El Dorado loses to Bear River the same night, Placer will advance to the postseason as the Pioneer Valley League's No. 3 seed.

"We've been telling the boys that they still need to keep doing their jobs," Woodward said before the Hillmen defeated Colfax 34-28 on Friday.

Bob Wallace, the appeals coordinator for the CIF, said that while the three-member panel hearing Placer's appeal will try to expedite the matter quickly, it's uncertain whether a ruling will be made before this Friday's game.

Under CIF bylaws, the panel has up to 15 business days to release its written decision.

Call The Bee's Bill Paterson, (916) 326-5506.