The Ekdahl Edge : Whether It’s Baseball, Football or Soccer, He Keeps on Clicking

Eric Ekdahl didn’t plan to become a three-sport star at Mission Viejo High School.

But his services were simply too enticing to the school’s coaches in baseball, football and soccer for him to reject the multifaceted role.

“In this age where so many kids are burned out on sports, Eric is an exception,” said Bill Crow, the Mission Viejo football coach who resigned after the 1987 season. “He does everything well. He’s so enthusiastic in practice and in the games, you want him on the team.”

Ekdahl, a junior, is the Diablos’ leadoff hitter and starting shortstop this spring and is hitting .349 with 15 hits and 14 runs scored.

His success in baseball is not surprising.

After his freshman season, he told the football and soccer coaches he was quitting their programs to concentrate on baseball.

The move made sense. He didn’t feel he was big enough to be play football or soccer successfully. But his coaches had other ideas.

“We knew if we could just get him in a helmet and on the football field, he would help our team,” Crow said. “So we asked him to come out and kick for the varsity team as a sophomore.”

Ekdahl, who is 5-feet 9-inches tall and weighs 155 pounds, was an accomplished kicker who had played on traveling club soccer teams in Mission Viejo since he was 8. He figured he would kick a couple of hours in practice and suit up for Friday night football games.

But on the first day of practice, Ron Drake, Mission Viejo’s wide receiver coach, asked Ekdahl to join a passing drill.

“Coach told me to come over and catch a couple of passes,” Ekdahl said. “The next day, I was learning pass routes.”

Before the season ended, Ekdahl had become an integral part of the Diablos’ offense as a pass receiver at slotback, and he eventually replaced injured Darrin Sweazy in the starting backfield.

When the football season ended, Ekdahl gravitated to the soccer field.

“I wasn’t playing for a winter baseball team, so I decided to keep playing soccer to stay in shape for baseball,” Ekdahl said. “Soccer is a sport I’ve always enjoyed because it’s so different.”

Last summer, Ekdahl decided he was too busy with football and baseball to continue playing on the club soccer team, Triad, but he was tempted to remain with the promise of a trip to Hawaii for a tournament.

So soccer remained part of his agenda.

Still, when it comes to baseball, he is especially enthusiastic. Who can blame him with the kind of spring he is enjoying?

In the recent Santa Ana Elks tournament, Ekdahl had six hits in nine at-bats against Millikan, Saddleback and Diamond Bar to lead Mission Viejo to the championship.

“I like everything about baseball,” he said. “I love to go to practice every day and work on my hitting or fielding. I love being on the field. On the weekends, I’ll come over here just to look and see how the field looks.”

Ekdahl began playing T-ball in Connecticut when he was 6, and his father, Dale, coached him throughout Little League.

“We used to go to a park behind my house, and my dad would work on my swing all day,” he said. “He used to videotape me hitting, and then we would go over techniques. He still goes to every one of my games.”

Ekdahl hit well in the Santa Ana tournament, but he also has experienced his share of slumps. Last year, he went 0 for 12 in three league games. This year, he committed three errors in the Diablos’ league-opening loss to Irvine.

“Whenever I get into a hitting slump, I choke up and try to hit the ball back to the pitcher,” he said. “I just try and make contact. I never had three errors in a game before. The first two batters hit ground balls to me, and I couldn’t field them. I’ve always considered myself a pretty good fielder.”

Ekdahl has worked his way out of baseball slumps, but his worst night on the football field has taken time to erase.

Ekdahl missed a 22-yard field goal with 1:55 remaining in a scoreless tie against Los Alamitos in the Southern Conference semifinals last fall. Then, later in the game, he missed an extra point in overtime on the wet field as Mission Viejo lost, 7-6.

“I cried all the way home on the bus,” he said. “It wasn’t so much that I thought I let the team down, it was more that I thought we were a better team and deserved to be in the championship.

“There’s no way we would have lost that game on a dry field. It took awhile to get over that one. All week long, people came up to me and asked, ‘What happened? How could you miss?’ I felt terrible.”

There was little time for lamenting. Two days later, Ekdahl was on the field for the eventual South Coast League soccer champions from Mission Viejo.