A's center fielder featured speaker at WNC dinner

Oakland Athletics center fielder Mark Kotsay will be the featured speaker at Western Nevada College's fifth annual intercollegiate athletics fund-raising dinner.

Several other professionals will be featured at the event, including 1999 Carson High graduate Darrell Rasner and former Western Nevada College pitcher Cole Rohrbough.

The benefit will be held from 6-10 p.m. Jan. 18 at the Peppermill. Tickets are $100 each, with tables of eight for $700. The event features a three-course prime rib dinner, hosted wine/beer, a live auction and drawing.

Kotsay, 32, has been in the major leagues since the late 1990s, first with the Florida Marlins until 2001 and then with the San Diego Padres until 2003, when he joined the A's.

During his college years, Kotsay was named both the college Player of the Year and College World Series MVP after setting records that still stand with Cal State Fullerton. Baseball America named him the 1990's college Player of the Decade.

With Oakland in 2004, Kotsay batted a career best .314 and led American League center fielders with 11 assists. In 2006, he helped the A's clinch the American League West Division title. He currently bats second in the team's lineup. Kotsay is also married to Carson High graduate Jamie (Scott) Kotsay.

Rasner and Rohrbough will be among others scheduled to attend the event and sign autographs. Rasner, who pitched at the University of Nevada, Reno is now a pitcher in the New York Yankees organization. Rohrbough is a pitcher in the Atlanta Braves organization and is ranked seventh among all the Braves minor league prospects by Baseball America.

Others scheduled to attend are Reed High graduate Jake McGee, who has risen to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays Double A affiliate, the Montgomery Biscuits. McGee was named the Devil Rays Minor League Pitcher of the Month in August, and was earlier named the Vero Beach Devil Rays Pitcher of the Year. Carson City's Jake Rasner, a pitcher in the Chicago White Sox organization, is also scheduled to attend.

Funds raised will assist Western Nevada College men's and women's intercollegiate athletics teams. Community college athletics in Nevada receive no state general funding, thus private support is critical to their ongoing success. For ticket information, call (775) 445-3240.