Color of Money Is Golden as Rivals Salkeld, Morgan Square Off

Someone is going to owe somebody five bucks.

“We have a little $5 wager,” Canyon slugger Gary Morgan said. “He says he’ll strike me out. I say he won’t.”

Said Saugus right-hander Roger Salkeld: “That’s really between him and my girlfriend. I just said, ‘I’ll strike you out more times than you’ll get a hit this year,’ and he said, ‘OK, we’ll see.’ ”

Said Morgan: “I guess he’s got three games to do it in, doesn’t he?”

The first game is Thursday as Golden League rivals Canyon and Saugus--and friendly rivals Morgan and Salkeld--renew acquaintances at Saugus.

Salkeld, fresh off a school-record 17-strikeout performance against Palmdale, is expected to be on the mound. Morgan, who is batting .625 with four doubles and a home run, is blistering the ball.

Both players, who are American Legion teammates in the summer, are off to sizzling starts. But something has to give. Either Morgan will cough up some Canyon cash or Salkeld will fork over some Centurion cents.

“He’s probably the most outstanding pitcher I’m going to face all year,” Morgan said. “Our whole team is talking about him. He throws the ball extremely hard. But what makes him so great is that he puts the ball where he wants to.”

Salkeld has enough respect for Morgan to be careful how he pitches to him.

“High and tight,” he said. “Or down and away. He’s a great hitter and he’s got quick hands. I don’t want to give him anything good.”

In eight plate appearances, Morgan has one career hit against Salkeld--a single to left on a curve--and three walks.

Hampered Hunters: Canoga Park’s Adam Schulhofer missed his first start of the season last week and had his right shoulder X-rayed because of soreness. The results were negative, but Schulhofer is not expected to pitch until the Ventura tournament March 28.

Schulhofer moved to the leadoff position last week against El Camino Real and went 1 for 3. But the switch has made things tough for No. 3 hitter Mike Kerber. Kerber twice was walked intentionally and has not been seeing fastballs like he did last year.

“I expected it,” Kerber said. “It was nothing new. We’re inexperienced and they want to get around me to the other hitters. But we need a leadoff hitter to get on. Adam usually will get on and maybe steal second and then I’ll come up and, hopefully, get the RBI.”

Kerber, last season’s City Player of the Year, has one RBI in five at-bats.

Add ailing: Simi Valley shortstop Greg Gerber has mononucleosis and will be out for at least a week, according to Pioneer Coach Mike Scyphers. It is possible Gerber also will miss Simi Valley’s trip to Orlando, Fla., where the Pioneers play in the Colonial tournament starting Monday. Gerber hit .489 last season and had hits in nine consecutive at-bats, a school record. He was a first-team Times All-Valley selection.

Unlucky seven: In seven games, all victories for Royal, Travis Kinyoun has been hit by a pitch seven times. He was hit twice Saturday in the Highlanders’ 4-1 win over Crespi.

“Travis loves that part,” Royal Coach Mike McCurdy said of his 5-11, 180-pound catcher. “He likes the inside pitch and doesn’t mind taking a fastball in the leg or shoulder. He loves to show off his battle scars where he’s been hit.”

Pleading the fifth: Kennedy Coach Dick Whitney said the Golden Cougars (3-4) desperately need a solid No. 5 man in the lineup to back junior cleanup hitter Gino Tagliaferri, who has 14 runs batted in and is cruising along with a .538 average.

“We need to find somebody who’ll be respected batting behind Tagliaferri,” he said. “If we don’t get production out of that spot, it won’t help our chances any.”

So far, the two players used in the No. 5 position have had little success. V. P. Pajcin, who hit .417 with 5 triples and 25 RBIs last year, is struggling after off-season surgery on his left knee. Shawn Madden hit .315 last year but has been unable to play in the field because of a nagging shoulder injury.

“They’re both striking out way too much,” Whitney said. “I don’t know if it’s physical as much as it is in their heads.”

In Wednesday’s 4-3 loss to San Fernando, Madden started in place of Pajcin at designated hitter and struck out twice in two at-bats. Pajcin pinch-hit for Madden in the fifth and he struck out. With a runner on second and the score tied, 3-3, in the seventh, Tagliaferri--who was 2 for 3--was walked intentionally. Whitney tried yet another player, pinch-hitter Mike Murray, who lined out to right.

No Fernando fadeaway: Last season, San Fernando won the Mid-Valley League title by two games with a record of 11-4. Two losses, however, were to Granada Hills, which tied for second at 9-6.

San Fernando Coach Steve Marden had an assistant scout the Highlanders--ranked No. 1 in the Valley by The Times--last week to minimize the chances of that happening again. Granada Hills easily won games over Kennedy and Birmingham by a combined score of 24-4.

“We know with that lineup that we have to throw certain pitches to certain people,” he said. “They’re a very good team, and when we play good teams and play well, we have a good chance of winning. When we play good teams and don’t play well, we get annihilated.

“With Granada Hills, if we play badly, they’ll annihilate us.”

San Fernando and Granada Hills, both 2-0, play for first place at Granada Hills at 3 p.m.

The eternal optimist: Every year, Kennedy volleyball Coach Mike Stanton says his team can beat Chatsworth, the powerhouse of the West Valley League. And every year, the Chancellors beat Kennedy anyway. Chatsworth is 12-0 against the Cougars, dating to 1983 when Kennedy first started its program.

So what does Stanton think about his team’s chances today when the Cougars travel to Chatsworth? “I think we have a legitimate shot at beating them,” he said.

Stanton’s optimism stems from a strong hitting attack led by middle blocker Brett Merritt and outside hitters Nick Simone, Mike McDonald and Kelly McGuire.

“This is the best hitting team I’ve had in six years,” Stanton said. “I know for a fact that we’re better than any team I’ve coached.”

Staff writers Tim Brown, Chris J. Parker and Steve Elling contributed to this notebook.