Powerful Pair Leading Seahawk Nine Into Tough SCAC Regionals

Higgins and Pedre. Pedre and Higgins.

This is what you hear when you walk around Los Angeles Harbor College.

Out back, behind the left-field fence of Harbor’s baseball diamond, stands an enormous concrete oasis, one usually reserved for parked automobiles. The area, known as “G lot,” has become a favorite stomping ground for Jorge Pedre.

“Jorge just loves G lot,” said Bob Gauci, an assistant coach at Harbor. “He’s hit so many home runs there, we still call it G lot--Jorge’s lot.”

Kevin Higgins smiles. Although he doesn’t always hit his home runs to G lot, he does hit his home runs--14 this year to Pedre’s 16, as they led the Seahawks to the Southern California Athletic Conference title.

Harbor (34-8 overall, 23-4 in the SCAC) plays host to the regional playoffs this weekend, most likely facing a College of the Canyons team which, like Harbor, is a perennial state power.

Pedre and Higgins are just two of Harbor’s talented crew. There are eight hitters with batting averages above .300, but Pedre and Higgins stand out because of all the records they’ve broken.

Higgins, a 5-11, 170-pound second baseman from Torrance High, surpassed five season records and now holds four career marks for Harbor. He set his season marks for runs scored (69), triples (6) and times on base (106). Higgins also passed the previous highs for home runs and RBIs, but Pedre in turn passed him.

The 6-1, 210-pound catcher hit two more homers than Higgins and had 71 RBIs to Higgins’ 55.

Higgins’ 108 career hits set the school record, and his 19 career homers and 97 career RBIs are more than any Seahawk has ever produced.

Pedre’s 74 hits are a Harbor season-high, as are his 16 home runs, most of which have been high, arching moon shots. His 24-game hitting streak is two short of the school record.

And there are still more numbers: Pedre, a sophomore who played at West Los Angeles College last season, hit .532 this season and was named SCAC player of the year. Higgins, like Pedre, a first-team member of the all-conference squad, hit .461.

Coach Jim O’Brien, who won state titles with his Harbor teams of 1978 and 1984, called Pedre and Higgins “two of the best players I’ve ever had.

“Pedre is, without a doubt, as fine a hitter as I’ve ever coached, particularly in the power department. Jorge is going to hit them anywhere, no matter where you pitch him. And Higgins, well, he just eats, sleeps and dreams baseball. Been like that all his life.

“Both guys, in my opinion, are definite pro prospects.”

Both players enjoy the high praise and attention that comes with being a star. But they are both quick to point out that they’d be nowhere without their teammates.

“This year has just been unbelievable, but I attribute that to the team,” said Higgins, one of four co-captains at Harbor. “When everyone’s hitting, that takes the pressure off Jorge and I. You can’t pitch around us. We get the ink and the records, but we’d have none of that without the rest of the team.”

There is a natural rivalry between Pedre and Higgins, one that spurs each to do better than the other. Because their statistics are almost identical and because they are the team leaders (Pedre is also co-captain), it’s become common to mention both names in one sentence. Higgins and Pedre. Pedre and Higgins.

But these two are different in many ways.

Higgins, a raucous type, is an absolute baseball junkie. If they ever started a Baseball Anonymous, Higgins would be a charter member.

As a 3-year-old, his father would throw Wiffle Balls at him. At 6, he said his uncle falsified his birth certificate so he could play in the 8-and-over league. By the time he was 12, Higgins knew that this is what he would do. Someday, he was going to make his living wearing a leather glove and pounding baseballs all over the field.

Higgins was a catcher and shortstop in his four-year varsity career at Torrance. He was All-CIF, Ocean League MVP, the big man on campus. When he got to Harbor, things changed. Not just his position (he was moved to second base), but his production as well.

“I didn’t have a great year,” he said. “I was out of shape the second half of the season. The bat felt really heavy. Now, I’m in much better condition, which I attribute partly to a weight-training program. I’m stronger now, which I guess helps explain all the home runs.”

By his own admission, Higgins is not a home-run hitter. Batting left-handed, he sprays the ball to all fields. He is a contact hitter, much like his hero, Pete Rose.

“Kevin is an all-around player,” O’Brien said. “We moved him to the No. 2 spot in the batting order (he hit third last season) so as to better suit his skills. Moving runners along. Getting on base and running the bases well, which he does. We didn’t want him to worry about hitting home runs, but they’re coming anyway.”

That can be attributed to some of the other hitters in the Harbor lineup. Players like Derek Sholl (an outfielder who tied the Harbor record for doubles in a season with 16), first baseman James Sherman (a .405 batting average) and designated hitter Todd Bargman (.342) have helped Higgins and Pedre.

“With those guys out there,” Higgins said, “we see a lot more fastballs.”

Surprisingly, defense has always been Higgins’ top priority. He enjoys hitting, but doesn’t spend nearly as much time on it as he does fielding and throwing. And he is solid in both of those departments.

So is Pedre, but big Jorge is a big hitter. A hitter’s hitter. A fearsome hitter.

Ask Mike Gillespie. In this, his first year as USC’s coach after spending 16 seasons at Canyons, Gillespie saw plenty of hitting from Pedre last season. “He wore us out, beat on us like a drum,” he said. “And he continues to just mash the ball. He is an outstanding hitter with great power. I fully expect him to be a high draft pick in June. It’s reasonable to consider he’ll sign a pro contract.”

A great player, true, but Pedre never did have quite the passion for baseball as Higgins did. In fact, Pedre doesn’t get passionate about too many things. He admits he’s quiet, shy and different from Higgins.

But that doesn’t matter when he’s holding a bat.

“At Culver (City High), I was changed from being a hitter to being a power hitter,” said Pedre, who usually bats third or fourth in the Seahawk lineup. “I was taught the hitting zone, and from there on, things have just happened.”

He was an outfielder at Culver, but was switched to catcher at West L.A. When baseball was eliminated after last season, he moved to Harbor, where O’Brien and Gauci, a former catcher with Harbor and then the Detroit Tigers, taught him the technicalities of playing behind the plate.

As he continues to work on his defense, there’s little Pedre has to do to improve his offensive skills. “The one thing I needed to learn, getting my hips into my swing for more power, I learned,” Pedre said. “Now, I turn on the ball better. As long as I hit the ball hard, that’s all that matters. Home runs come with hitting the ball hard.”

Pedre hit nine homers with a .432 average at West L.A. last year and has continued his torrid hitting this season, grabbing the attention of pro scouts.

“I would love nothing more than to play pro ball,” Pedre said.

Higgins said he feels the same way. He was drafted last season, in the fifth round by the Tigers. But he’s awaiting the June 3 draft this year to see if he can go in a higher round. He will wait until then to decide if he will honor the letter of intent he signed to attend Arizona State University.

Pedre should be a high draft pick and, if he is, will probably sign a pro contract immediately.

The immediate task at hand, however, is to get that third state title for Harbor. The Seahawks, if they play Canyons in the regionals, figure to have a tough time getting to the state finals. Although they beat Canyons in the only game the teams played this season, Canyons swept the Seahawks in two games in last year’s regionals, preventing Harbor from becoming one of the eight teams that reach the state finals.

But last year’s Harbor team didn’t have Pedre. And Higgins had a sub-par season. Together with an all-around talented group of teammates, who through one 15-game stretch this season averaged 11 runs a game, Pedre and Higgins figure they’re good enough to get that third state title.

If they do, they will share the crown with O’Brien and the rest of the Seahawks, but they may be alone in grabbing all the headlines.

Higgins and Pedre. Pedre and Higgins.