Helm Finds Place Where He Can Play : Ex-Laguna Hills Star to Transfer to Pepperdine

All Wayne Helm wanted this summer was a place to pitch.

Helm, a right-hander who played at Laguna Hills High School, had just spent a frustrating freshman season at the University of Arizona, where he pitched just 10 innings.

The Arizona coaches, who thought Helm was going to hurt his arm with the pitching style he developed in high school, taught him a new motion, which Helm felt uncomfortable with. Then he came down with hepatitis and was sick for most of April and all of May.

Things didn’t get any better when he found out he didn’t figure to pitch much next season, either.

“Coach (Jerry) Kendall told me that I wasn’t in their plans until maybe my junior season, and I didn’t want to wait that long,” Helm said. “I made all the trips with the team until I got sick, but I was the seventh pitcher and they were using only six.

“I just felt like I didn’t get a chance to prove myself.”

One of the options Kendall offered Helm was to be released from his scholarship. This is the one he requested.

Suddenly, Helm was a pitcher looking for a place to play.

With the help of Jack Hodges, his high school coach, Helms joined the Cypress Bulldogs of the Orange County Metropolitan League for the summer.

Helm wanted to regain the confidence and form he’d had as a prep star at Laguna Hills. He was 10-3 as a junior in 1985 and 7-3 as a senior in 1986, when he led Orange County with 124 strikeouts.

“The first time I pitched this summer I told myself I was just going back to the way I threw in high school,” Helm said. “I was so much more relaxed right away. It was great.”

Helm finished the Metro League with a 5-0 record and a 2.25 earned-run average for the Bulldogs, who finished in second place. He also had 66 strikeouts and 15 walks in 43 innings.

Helm, who is 6-feet 3-inches tall and weighs 195 pounds, throws a fastball that had been clocked in the upper 80s. He also uses a changeup and a slider. He will make his final appearance of the summer Sunday as a member of the Metro League all-star team that will play the league champion Pomona Colts at 4 p.m. at Anaheim Stadium.

Helm had hoped to go to Pepperdine, but the school had no scholarships available when he left Arizona. So he figured he’d go to a community college for a year.

But three weeks ago, that changed. Pepperdine, which had recruited Helm out of high school, had a scholarship opening because a player signed a professional baseball contract.

Now Helm plans to attend Pepperdine in the fall as a sophomore, but it won’t be official until the school receives a letter from Arizona saying that Helm has been released from his scholarship obligations there.

The Pepperdine sports information office says that it’s a matter of paper work at this point.

Helm’s decision to go to Pepperdine was a blow to Scott Pickler, who coached Helm on the Bulldogs and was hoping to have him as part of his Cypress College team next spring.

“It is a real disappointment to lose him,” Pickler said. “He could have really helped us. He would have had a chance to sign (with a four-year school) after a year with us. We think he’s cutting himself short of other options by going to Pepperdine.

“He would have no trouble getting drafted or going to a four-year school after a season here.”

Said Helm: “The Cypress coaches said they were going to be selfish about trying to keep me. But they understood my decision to go to Pepperdine. . . . Arizona is all in the past now. I’m really looking forward to next season. I’m making the right decision--I think.”