College Baseball : Defense, Speed Give Cal the Lead

The Pacific 10’s Southern Division baseball teams appear to have subdivided, with California (8-2), USC (6-2) and Stanford (4-1) in the upper division, and UCLA (4-7), Arizona (2-6) and Arizona State (2-7) in the lower half.

Cal, atop the division for the first time since 1980, has been winning with speed and defense. The Bears are averaging about three stolen bases a game and are leading the division with 66.

They aren’t much for power, though. Cal is batting a respectable .312, but the Bears have hit just 15 home runs, 29 fewer than UCLA.

All part of the plan, according to Coach Bob Milano.

“Speed is constant,” he said. “It never varies. We recruit runners, and then figure out a way to get them to first base.”

Three of Milano’s runners are Todd Mayo, Darren Lewis and Darryl Vice, who have stolen 36 bases among them.

“We are kind of a strange team,” Milano said. “We tend to score early, fall asleep for the middle innings and come back for the last nine outs.”

Cal’s pitching, though, has been consistent. There are two solid starters, Travis Willis and Mark Juhas. Willis has a 6-2 record and a 2.91 earned-run average, and Juhas is 4-0 with a 3.12 ERA. Juhas, from Arcadia High School, has thrown three complete games in his last four starts.

Cal is also deep in the bullpen with two left-handers, Joe Buckley, 3-1 with 3 saves and 2.88 ERA, and Fred Corral, 3-1 with a 4.05 ERA.

“Obviously it begins with the guys on the mound, and the last five weeks our pitching has been outstanding, as has our defense,” Milano said. “We scrape for runs, and our clutch-hitting has been good.”

Second baseman Jeff Oberdank is one reason UC Irvine, with a 19-13-1 record, is off to its best start since 1981.

Oberdank, who has a hit in 30 of 33 games, has a .424 batting average. He is often referred to as a scrappy player in the mold of Lenny Dykstra, New York Mets outfielder.

The 5-foot 8-inch Oberdank doesn’t mind that at all.

“It’s not so much that Dykstra is small like me, I really like the way he plays,” Oberdank said.

“I’m really a fanatic about Dykstra. He . . . plays hard-nosed and scrappy, and he earns hits. Plus, he’s a lead-off hitter, like me.”

Oberdank, who played at Fullerton College for two years before transferring to Irvine, is having his best season and credits his improvement to a better understanding of his role as a lead-off hitter.

“I am finally using my abilities properly, rather than trying to be a home run hitter,” he said. “Now I try to drive the ball in the alleys, and use all the field rather than trying for power.”

Joey James, who earned All-American and All-State honors for two years at Orange Coast College before transferring this season to UCLA, is helping the Bruins to continue their Bomb Squad image. The team went by that nickname last season when it set a Southern Division record for home runs with 116.

James has eight homers this season, including four in the Bruins’ recent three-game series at Stanford.

Opponents lately have been trying an old defense for the left-handed power hitter.

“It’s the Ted Williams shift,” UCLA Coach Gary Adams said.

“They are looking for Joey to pull the ball, so everyone plays deep and shifts to the right. The first baseman and right fielder hug the line, and the outfield shifts accordingly.

“The second baseman plays deep on the grass, close to first base; the shortstop moves behind second base, and the third baseman plays close to the shortstop position.

“That defense worked for California recently because James hit it up the middle,” Adams continued. “But it didn’t work too well at Stanford because Joey just hit the ball over their heads.”

College Baseball Notes

USC’s Rodney Peete, who suffered a broken bone in his hand during his first-at bat of the season, is back in action and helped USC sweep Arizona at Tucson last weekend. In the three-game series, Peete went 6 for 14, hit 2 home runs, a double and drove in 8 runs. . . . UCLA’s Robbie Katzaroff has hit safely in 24 of 26 games and has a current 12-game streak.