NOTES AND QUOTES for a Wednesday in the Napa Valley:

Third baseman Brett Wallace was promoted to Triple-A and is batting .471 through four games for the Memphis Redbirds of the Pacific Coast League.

Wallace, a former Justin-Siena High School and Arizona State star, joined Memphis on Saturday. He started out the 2009 season with the Springfield (Mo.) Cardinals, batting .281 with 36 hits in 32 games. He had five doubles, five home runs and 16 RBIs.

He has had multiple-hit games in three of his four games for Memphis, going 3-for-4 against Reno Saturday and 3-for-6 against Reno on Monday. He also has a double and one RBI.

Wallace was the St. Louis Cardinals’ top pick in the 2008 major league draft and was a two-time Pacific-10 Conference Player of the Year for Arizona State.

He was a non-roster invitee to the Cardinals’ major league camp in Jupiter, Fla., but had only six at-bats in five games.

Wallace, a Sonoma resident, is the only player in Arizona State history to lead the team in hitting three straights seasons, and he did it all while playing multiple positions on the field.

In 2008, Wallace became the only player in Pac-10 history to win back-to-back Triple Crowns, leading the Sun Devils to a second straight conference championship. Batting .410 with 22 homers and 83 RBIs, he was named the Pac-10 Player of the Year and a First-Team All-American for the second consecutive year.

He played in 54 games in the minors last year, batting .337 with 16 doubles, eight home runs and 36 RBIs between Class A and Double-A ball.

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Frank Bozzini, a longtime Napa Valley coach, will join the Justin-Siena boys basketball staff as the Braves’ head JV coach.

“Frank is a great teacher of the game,” said Ray Particelli, Justin-Siena’s new head varsity coach. “He’s going to bring a lot to the table.”

Bozzini is a former Justin-Siena and Vintage head coach for girls basketball, a former co-head coach at St. Helena for girls basketball, and also coached Trinity Prep boys basketball. For the last two years, he has been at St. Helena as the assistant JV girls coach. 

Andy Viera and Kevin Grubbs (varsity assistants), Giules Particelli (JV assistant), Adolfo Guevara (head freshman coach), A.C. Branco (freshman assistant), and Tim Malloy (assistant to the program) are all joining the staff.

Justin-Siena will face Cardinal Newman-Santa Rosa in the Wildcat Summer Shootout, hosted by Marin Catholic-Kentfield. The tournament is June 19 and 20.

Newman coach Tom Bonfigli is a former Justin-Siena coach.

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The UC Davis men’s golf season came to a close Saturday at the NCAA Division I West Regional Championship. The Aggies, coached by Napa High graduate Cy Williams, were 13th in the event. It was played at Lake Merced Golf Club in Daly City.

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Senior Micah Putnam earned all-Big West Conference Second-Team honors for her work at second base for the Cal State Northridge softball team.

Putnam, a Justin-Siena graduate, finished the 2009 season with several career highs, led by her .294 batting average, 34 RBIs and 11 stolen bases. She also led the Matadors in sacrifice bunts for the third time in four years. Overall, Putnam had 40 hits, including eight doubles, two triples and four home runs. She also scored 20 runs.

A team captain, Putnam improved her batting average every year for the Matadors, finishing with a four-year average of .255. She leaves Northridge having played in 184 games.

During her final season at Northridge, Putnam hit a grand slam in a 4-1 victory over Portland State on March 7. She also achieved a career high with four hits against Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo on April 18 and hit a team-high .316 against Big West teams.

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Former Super Bowl-winning head coach Jon Gruden is joining ESPN’s Monday Night Football. He will join commentators Mike Tirico and Ron Jaworski in the booth when sports television’s signature series kicks off its 40th season this fall.

Gruden, a former Oakland Raiders head coach, will also contribute analysis throughout the year on ESPN Radio and other platforms, in addition to being a part of ESPN’s 2010 Pro Bowl telecast and Super Bowl and NFL Draft coverage.

Gruden replaces Tony Kornheiser, who has decided to step down after three years in the Monday Night Football booth.

Gruden served as an NFL head coach the past 11 seasons with the Raiders (1998-2001) and most recently with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2002-08). He compiled a career record of 100-85 and led his teams to five division titles. Gruden’s best season was 2002 when the Buccaneers finished the regular season 12-4 and captured the Super Bowl XXXVII title with a 48-21 victory over the Raiders, the team Gruden had coached just one season earlier. At the time, the championship made then 38-year-old Gruden the youngest head coach ever to win a Super Bowl.

E-mail Executive Sports Editor Marty James at mjames@napanews.com or call 256-2223.