Tennis / Sam Farmer : Erlich Double Faults National Anthem

The organizers of the Open Division Men’s Evening Doubles League at Warner Center Club in Woodland Hills had a surprise waiting for Scott Ehrlich before play began Wednesday night.

Ehrlich, who lives in Studio City and will participate in the league, was--unbeknown to him--scheduled to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” to kick off the competition.

Such requests should not catch Ehrlich, 23, off guard--he has sung the national anthem in front of a larger crowd before. His first performance came Sunday at Dodger Stadium before a crowd of 41,032, and the performance later showed up on most of the local television sportscasts.

“We figured, hey, if he can sing in front of thousands of people, he can sing in front of 80 guys,” Warner Center pro Doug Doss said.

Sunday, Ehrlich’s voice cracked and his knees knocked. Midway through the song, he forgot the lyrics.

He flopped, which is not surprising considering the unorthodox path he took to the center-field mike. A few weeks earlier, Ehrlich called the Dodger front office claiming to be the agent of Scott Michaels, a fictitious singer.

Ehrlich told the receptionist that Michaels was the star of the musical “Les Miserables,” and the Dodgers booked the performance. Before the game, the organist approached Ehrlich and questioned him about his tone preference.

“She said, ‘Do you want to start with an F or a C,’ ” Ehrlich said. “Like I even know what the hell I’m talking about. I told her, ‘Definitely an F.’ ”

Next, Ehrlich was led to a broom-closet-sized room and told to warm up. “That’s when reality set in,” he said. “I thought, ‘What am I doing here.’ ”

Finally, the fiasco.

“Right when I got (to the microphone) they started playing the music and I’m like, ‘Slow down a little bit. This is going too quick. . . . The whole way to the stadium I was singing, ‘Whose bright stripes and bright stars . . .’ So when I got past that part, I said, ‘All right,’ and that’s where I lost my place.

“The crowd got real loud and they felt really sorry for me and kind of carried me through it. I looked over at the Dodger players and they were just rolling.”

A graduate of the Warner Center Club’s youth program and an avid tennis buff, Ehrlich may have found a new hobby. His next conquest?

“I want to sing ‘O Canada’ at the Stanley Cup finals,” he said.

Bye-bye Burbank: Tom McDonald, the No. 1 singles player at Burbank High this season, will attend Azusa Pacific in the fall on an athletic scholarship. McDonald (28-3), the Foothill League’s Most Valuable Player, won the Braemar and Palmdale tournaments.

Giant killer: Seeing Frank Brennan crack a big smile early in the first round of last month’s National Collegiate Athletic Assn. women’s individual championships in Gainesville, Fla., left Gualberto Escudero with a warm feeling.

But the reaction from Escudero, Pepperdine’s coach, wasn’t inspired by human kindness.

Brennan, Stanford’s coach, was smiling because sophomore Tami Whitlinger, the top-ranked player in the nation, had just beaten unseeded Pepperdine freshman Noelle Porter, 6-1, in the first set.

Why so pleased, Gualberto?

“(Brennan) shouldn’t have been happy yet,” Escudero said. “No coach should get happy until the last point is won. I think he was comfortable and thinking they had it in the bag.”

Porter, who lives in Northridge, won the next two sets, 7-6, 6-3, for the victory. She eventually lost in the semifinal round.

Brennan said that it wasn’t overconfidence but excessive caution that cost Whitlinger the match.

“Tami was not able to switch into another mode when she saw that she was going to have to beat Porter,” Brennan said. “Porter wasn’t going to beat herself.”

The upset even surprised Porter.

“I was understandably nervous and wasn’t really concentrating,” Porter said. “I told my coach, ‘I feel terrible. I’m being humiliated out here.’ But some of the tension went away in the second set and, all of a sudden, she was a little bit tired.”

Escudero was more confident.

“As soon as Tami began to lose her lead, she began to lose her temper and look at her coach,” he said. “It just gave (Porter) a feeling of ‘I can beat this girl today.’ ”

Give blood: A blood drive will be held Saturday at the Northridge Tennis Club from 9 a.m. to 1:45 p.m.

Information: 818-993-8952.