SOUTHERN SECTION BASEBALL PLAYOFFS : INTENSITY AND VELOCITY : Desire, Fastball Help Holcomb Go Unbeaten

It is not uncommon for coaches to praise the competitive natures of their star players.

But El Dorado High School pitcher Scott Holcomb is on a different plane--whose altitude and destination are anybody’s guess. The only certainty is velocity, more than 80 m.p.h. and climbing.

Holcomb, known to opponents as the Golden Hawks’ left-handed ringer from Missouri, moved to Placentia a year ago.

Armed with a hard fastball, an excellent curve and a good changeup, the 17-year-old senior became one of the top pitchers in Orange County this season by compiling a 10-0 record with a 1.75 earned-run average and 93 strikeouts. He also hit .349 with four homers and 20 RBIs.

A wiry left arm, whose weird loose-jointed flexibilityreminds Coach Steve Gullotti of Gumby, deserves much of the credit.

But this success also is a byproduct of a highly competitive nature.

“He could be playing tiddlywinks and if he was losing, he’d be a madman,” Gullotti said.

Holcomb’s John McEnroe-like disgust for losing actually comes across as an asset because it is integrated into an otherwise sunny, high-spirited Midwestern personality.

He is among the best-liked players on the Golden Hawks (19-6), the Empire League’s second-place finishers who move into today’s Southern Section playoffs as the county’s No. 4 team.

But his distaste for losing in any form has become legendary in the dugout, where his teammates have been known to amuse themselves by doing imitations of Holcomb in the throes of annoyance.

To be honest, gloves and bats aren’t always safe in Holcomb’s grasp after he gives up a big hit, or fails to produce one.

“You have to understand that this isn’t a disrespectful type thing,” said Gullotti, who does not run a loose ship. “It’s matter of Scott getting frustrated with himself. It’s not a negative.

“The thing I like the most about him is he’s so competitive. We’ve had some competitive players in the program before, like (former all-county pitcher) Kevin Blankenship, but Scott is as competitive as anybody we’ve ever had.”

Holcomb’s competitive streak makes traditional sports discipline--exile to the pine--unusually effective, as Gullotti discovered the only time he had to administer it.

One day Holcomb and second baseman Bret Boone arrived for a 10 a.m. Saturday game at 8:47, which was two minutes late. Gullotti benched the pair, along with pitcher Jeff Petredes, who showed up at 9:15.

From Holcomb’s impassioned reaction, you would think Gullotti had tossed him off the team. Missing that one game seems to have left a psychological scar that lingers to this day, a flawless 10-0 record notwithstanding.

“That ate me up inside so bad,” he says. “It ate me alive.”

Holcomb sat on the bench and stewed while El Dorado was upset by Brea-Olinda in the nonleague game.

He began to imagine his triumphant return--which never materialized because Gullotti never subbed him into the game. But Holcomb had the whole scenario in his mind and it didn’t seem to matter that he never got the chance to carry it out.

“What I wanted to do was--in the last inning, he’d pinch-hit us and I’d get up and hit a homer . . . “

As Holcomb related this fantasy, Gullotti himself came walking up. Your average player faced with this situation clams right up or switches to a safer subject--such as the wisdom of the coaching staff.

But Holcomb rattled on to the punch line, grinning impishly at Gullotti: “ . . . and I’d be running around third and I wouldn’t shake your hand, I’d just run right by!”

He collapses on the grass with mirth and this total lack of guile compels Gullotti to laugh with him.

Holcomb had good reason to be lighthearted this week. During a recruiting trip last weekend, he signed a letter of intent to attend Oral Roberts University, whose pitching coach is former Dodger reliever Jim Brewer.

On the other hand, he probably wouldn’t reject a pro contract if he were drafted in June. The classroom is one place his competitiveness does not seem to follow him. His grade-point average (2.5) hovers just a point above his ERA.

Part of the problem could be the fact that his notebooks are filled with only two words, practiced over and over.

“I’ll be thinking: If I make the big leagues, this is what my autograph will look like,” he said. “I wear out about 35 pens a week.”

Once when a teacher asked to see his notes at the end of a semester, he was forced to reveal the contents of his notebook--hundreds of autographs. The fact they could be worth millions someday was no help.

“He gave me a zero,” Holcomb said.

That digit he’d rather see in the loss column of his pitching record.

“I could sit and watch ESPN (the TV sports network) all day,” he said. “I remember all of that stuff, but I can’t remember who the first president of the United States was.”