LJ baseball: Preview

By Ed Piper, Jr.

"I haven't been to Spring Training since I became a coach," says Gary Frank, La Jolla High's head baseball coach, every February when a sportswriter tells him he is going to the annual rite of Spring.

Frank says his Viking team will have a little different flavor this year: maybe not as much talent overall spread across the 15-man roster as last year's highly-talented team, and possibly more of a gap between the upper tier and the reserves.

But we could still say we're in something of a golden age for La Jolla High baseball, which is less than two years removed from playing in the CIF title game at Fowler Park on the USD campus.

Frank will enjoy veteran right-hander Nick Hammel coming over to the diamond once the basketball season is over. Ditto fellow senior and batterymate Garrett Brown, who has started behind the plate since midway through his sophomore season two years ago.

Hammel, one of the aces of the staff last year until sustaining an arm injury, went 7-2 with a 1.74 ERA in 44 1/3 innings, the last category leading the staff despite missing time after hurting his arm.

His 14 appearances were second-most on the team, with seven starts. His 16 strikeouts to six walks yielded an excellent ratio in that area.

Brown, in his first full season handling the pitching staff--though his sophomore year was highlighted by a spot in the CIF title game--pounded the ball at a .306 clip (one of six Vikings hitting over .300), with 26 hits, 10 RBI, 4 doubles, 2 triples, 12 walks, and 5 hit-by-pitch in 103 plate appearances, including 85 at-bats.

Dane Hansen returns at first base. Cole Dimich, coming off being named all-league at quarterback in football last fall, will move from left field to patrol centerfield.

Hansen clubbed the ball last year at .327, third on the team. He was first in hits (32), second in plate appearances (118), and third in RBI (19), while tying with Brown for most games played (33). The bespectacled big stretch at first base also had three triples and was 2 for 2 in steals.

Dimich looks to make major improvement on his junior year, when he batted .200, with 14 hits, 7 RBI, three doubles, and 7 bases on balls. His OPS was .516.

Frank, a former second baseman who starred at La Jolla, then played in college and professional baseball, will have returner Nick Ferenczy at that spot, moving over from third base.

Sebastian "C-bass" Partida could take the spot that opens up at the hot corner. "He's a streak hitter," comments the coach. Personally, this sportswriter favors the nickname "Slice" for the burly right-hander, which his last name means in Spanish.

Partida will be in the mix among the mound corps, which typically involves half or more of Frank's entire 15-man roster.