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John Zant: Prep Baseball At Its Finest on UCSB Diamond Friday |
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By John Zant
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Friday, April 27 2007 |
Some great baseball is played at UCSB's Caesar Uyesaka Stadium. The collegiate season brings Big West Conference action to the diamond -- it is the strongest "mid-major" league in the country -- and such powers as USC also schedule visits to Santa Barbara. The Trojans will face the Gauchos on May 23.
During the summer, the ballpark is home of the semipro Santa Barbara Foresters, the reigning champions of the National Baseball Congress.
At 3:15 p.m. today, two high school teams will go seven innings (or more) at Uyesaka, and the quality of baseball will be remarkably high.
The Dos Pueblos Chargers will be the home team against the Santa Barbara Dons. Both teams are 17-3 overall. Dos Pueblos leads the Channel League with a 7-0 record, while Santa Barbara is in second place at 6-2. The Chargers are responsible for both of the Dons' defeats -- by a 2-0 score a month ago and 4-2 earlier this week. Between those two setbacks, the Dons had a 10-game winning streak.
Both those games were taut affairs with clutch pitching and defensive gems that kept the score close. DP senior Dan Martony won a pair of pitcher's duels against Mason Radeke, a Santa Barbara junior.
"We call him 'Bulldog,'" DP coach Bob Townsend said of Martony. "He's our Orel Hershiser. He's a strike thrower."
It was quite a feat for Martony to hold the Dons to two runs in 14 innings. They are scoring an average of almost nine per game. Spectacular defensive plays by the Chargers kept Santa Barbara off the basepaths.
"In the first game, their third baseman (Brad Armstrong) had as outstanding a game as I've seen in years," Dons coach Fred Warrecker said. "He had seven or eight assists. He speared balls that were heading for extra bases, and he came in to play the slow rollers. Taking away the fact we lost, both games against Dos Pueblos have been very, very good."
Today's starting pitchers will be Chris Joyce of the Chargers and Crosby Slaught of the Dons.
Joyce has seen limited time on the mound because of early-season arm issues, Townsend said, but he appears ready now. The junior has struck out seven batters in six innings without allowing an earned run.
Slaught, a 6-foot-5 senior who also plays basketball, is learning the refinements of pitching. "He has a real athlete's body and is going to be successful," Warrecker said.
It is no coincidence that both these winning teams have strong coaching staffs. Warrecker has been head coach of the Dons since 1973. His assistants Michael Cooney and George Rempe, a pair of attorneys with a passion for baseball, have been with him a combined 53 years.
Townsend was a shortstop on Warrecker's first Santa Barbara High team. He did some coaching at Dos Pueblos with the late Scott O'Leary in the '80s, and in 1991 he started up the Foresters. Townsend returned to coach the Chargers this year after the controversial dismissal of Dan Yokubaitis, who was under fire from some parents.
"There's still a little cloud," Townsend said, "but it's about the kids. It's not about the parents. We've got a great group of kids."
Townsend is a home builder. He and his assistant coaches, Dave Fredrickson and Val Reveles, receive stipends that come out to cents per hour.
"Dave has a flooring business and comes down from Orcutt every day," Townsend said. "Val has a plumbing business. He's at every practice. It's all about their dedication and commitment."
The fruits of their labors can be seen at the UCSB diamond today. Dos Pueblos can reduce it's magic number for clinching a league championship to two of it wins today. A Santa Barbara victory will create a tight race in the final two weeks of the season.
UCSB DOINGS: The university campus will be a beehive of activity this weekend during the first annual All-Gaucho Reunion. Sports events Saturday include the UCSB-Cal Poly dual track and field meet, starting at noon; a 1 p.m. soccer game between alumni and the 2006 NCAA champion Gauchos at Harder Stadium; and a 4 p.m. reception in the entrance lobby of the new Intercollegiate Athletics Building, the future site of the Phil Womble Hall of Champions.
In the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation volleyball semifinals Thursday night at Malibu, top-ranked Pepperdine was too high a mountain for UCSB to climb. The Waves won the match, 30-23, 24-30, 30-26 and 30-20. The Gauchos, ranked fourth in the nation, finished with a 20-12 record. The MPSF tournament is considered tougher than the NCAA Final Four in volleyball. |
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