HIGH SCHOOL NOTEBOOK : Pressman and Cresse are Camp Partners

Jeff Pressman ran the Valley Cardinals Baseball Camp for 13 years before tiring of the routine in 1984.

“It got to be very demanding and nerve-racking to run a baseball camp,” he explained.

So Pressman, who also coaches the Montclair Prep baseball team, sold the camp to major league pitcher Rick Rhoden and figured he would put his fungo bat to rest for a while.

But only a week later, he was approached by Dodger coach Mark Cresse, who was starting his own camp and wanted Pressman to be his partner.

Pressman accepted and is again a happy camper.

“I feel like this is my business and my future and it’s something I’m banking on more than being a coach,” he said.

That’s pretty noteworthy for a coach who in 11 seasons at Montclair Prep has guided the Mounties to four Southern Section titles.

Although he has enjoyed success at the Van Nuys school, he moves every summer from his home in the Valley to an apartment in Mission Viejo to be closer to the Mark Cresse School of Baseball in Huntington Beach.

Pressman and Cresse first crossed basepaths when the Dodger coach made guest appearances at the Valley Cardinals camp. That’s when Cresse began thinking about starting his own camp.

“Mark mentioned to me that our program would do wonders in Orange County,” said Pressman, whose 1986 Montclair team was ranked No. 1 in the 1-A Division most of the season.

When Cresse eventually made the offer, Pressman, one week out of the business, jumped at it.

“I just thought that I was dealing with the right person,” Pressman said. “I’m really happy and I think I made the right move. It’s worked out better than I could have ever dreamed. I had no idea we were ever going to do as well as we are now.”

The Cresse school has drawn more than 300 campers this summer and Pressman likes Orange County so much he has considered moving there permanently and giving up his coaching position at Montclair Prep.

“Yeah, I’ve thought about that,” he said. “It’s been in the back of mind. But it won’t be for a while. We have a good team returning at Montclair Prep and I will definitely be back this year.”

Pat Machado, who won three Southern Section baseball titles in his six seasons at Rio Mesa, has resigned to become football coach at Morro Bay High, a school near San Luis Obispo.

Rio Mesa won its second consecutive 3-A championship this season, giving Machado three titles in four appearances in championship games. He said the championships made it easier to move on.

“But the No. 1 reason,” he said, “is ever since I’ve graduated from college, one of my goals has been to be a head football coach. I was more or less diverted into baseball to satisfy an urge to be a varsity coach.”

Machado, who was an assistant football coach at Rio Mesa, will take over a program that was 1-8 last season and 0-10 the year before that.

“It’s a struggling program,” Machado said. “As a coach, you can come in and start at ground level, set your philosophies and set your goals you want for your team. There’s only one way we can go.”

Machado won’t be out of baseball too long, however. Next year, he said, he will probably coach his son’s Little League team.

Mike Hankins, a three-year starter for the Simi Valley baseball team, will try to fulfill a childhood dream by playing for UCLA next season, but he must pay his own way. Hankins did not receive a scholarship from UCLA but will attempt to make the Bruins as a walk-on. He turned down a partial scholarship from UC Riverside to go to Westwood.

Hankins was a first-team All-Southern Section selection as a third baseman for the Pioneers this spring. He batted .407, won the team’s Gold Glove award and finished his three-year career with numerous school records. He is the school’s all-time leader in hits (96), runs (73) and walks (75).

Despite playing for a team that was ranked No. 1 in the country during the season and reached the semifinals of the Southern Section 4-A playoffs, Hankins received little interest from four-year schools. He was disappointed but vowed to make UCLA opponents regret the oversight.

“I’m kind of disappointed, but I figured that whoever gets me, we’ll beat everybody else. This has got me fired up,” he said.

Hankins is the latest in a group of Ventura County players to head to UCLA. He joins a team that includes Scott Cline and Charlie Fiacco from Camarillo and Craig Good from Rio Mesa. Chuck Yeager, who also played at Rio Mesa, was a member of the 1985 Bruins and now plays for Albany, the New York Yankees’ affiliate in the Double-A Eastern League.