Tough Games, Local Talent Keys for USIU Baseball

George Kachigian, the U.S. International University baseball coach, knew when he took over the program in June 1987 that there would be days such as the one when the Gulls defeated UCLA recently.

He also knew there would be days such as Monday, when the Gulls were routed, 18-0, by Arizona.

Kachigian is building the USIU program on two basic principles--recruit local athletes and play the best teams in the nation.

“We’ll play anybody who wants to play us,” said Kachigian, whose team lost again Tuesday to Arizona, 6-2. “We’re an independent, so the only way we are going anywhere is to play a real hard schedule.”

Kachigian has scheduled 12 of the top 25 teams from preseason rankings, including Arizona, Cal State Fullerton and Loyola Marymount.

On the first point, Kachigian has three freshman recruits from San Diego on his roster. Catcher Rick Page helped lead Helix to the 3-A title last season and has helped the Gulls win one game this year with a home run in the bottom of the ninth. USIU also has freshman pitchers Jeff Matranga and Bruce Moutaw from Santana.

“What I’m trying to do is get what I can in the area, and whatever I have left to fill, I’ll go out of the area,” Kachigian said. “But the first choice is the San Diego area. I think there is plenty of talent in San Diego.”

Although he has 13 scholarships to offer, Kachigian said his biggest problem is grades. An athlete must have a 2.70 grade-point average (on a 4.0 scale) for admission to USIU and then must maintain that to keep his scholarship.

Kachigian was familiar with the USIU program before he became coach. He was an assistant for two years and also had been an assistant at Grossmont Community College and head coach at Marian High.

Kachigian’s first priority is to get USIU back to winning. The Gulls were 18-24 last season.

“The team shows sparks of greatness and then immaturity,” Kachigian said. “We have a lot of freshmen. (The UCLA game) was a great character-builder. They found out they could play with these guys. Confidence is the key. But it’s going to be up and down until they get their confidence. That just takes a lot of playing time.”

The 18th annual San Diego Intercollegiate Invitational men’s tennis tournament starts Thursday, with the final scheduled Saturday at the University of San Diego’s West Courts.

Besides USD, San Diego State, UC San Diego, Point Loma Nazarene and USIU, the 17-team tournament features Brigham Young, UC Irvine, Cal State Long Beach and Pepperdine.

The Toreros are coming off one of the biggest victories in the program’s history, a 5-3 defeat of fourth-ranked USC in Los Angeles Feb. 7. USD likely will move into the top 20 when the next poll is released.

U.S. International did receive some positive attention after its NCAA record-breaking basketball loss to Loyola Marymount, but it certainly wasn’t all the way.

USIU Coach Gary Zarecky said he received numerous calls with invitations to play in tournaments after the Gulls were defeated, 181-150. USIU broke its own record for points by a losing team, set in a 162-144 loss to Loyola earlier this season.

But Zarecky said that two teams, including Yale, are trying to back out of playing the Gulls next season. And USIU has not won over Al McGuire, the former Marquette coach and now a television commentator.

On a recent nationally televised game, play-by-play man Dick Enberg was introducing a halftime feature on Loyola Coach Paul Westhead and made a reference to the 181 points the Lions had scored against USIU.

McGuire responded: “Dick, I could score 100 points against that club.”

San Diego Mesa will be trying to accomplish something that it has not done in its 24-year history--qualify for the state men’s basketball tournament.

The Olympians are tied with San Diego City for third in the Pacific Coast Conference at 5-5. The top three teams qualify for the state tournament.

Mesa hosts Palomar today and is at Imperial Valley College Saturday. City hosts MiraCosta today and then plays at Palomar Saturday.