Sheff Hits in Any Country, Against Any Country : Latest Role for Former Laguna Hills Star: Leading U.S. in World Junior Games

Chris Sheff was starting to think that he had played one too many baseball games in one too many countries. According to his itinerary, the U.S. team was in Canada, playing a team from Brazil. The uniforms said Brazil. But the players were Japanese.

It’s been a long season for Sheff, a graduate of Laguna Hills High School who is playing for the United States in the World Junior Baseball tournament in Trois-Rivieres, Canada, this week.

After winning its first two games, the United States defeated Brazil, 8-1, on Monday. It was Brazil, all right, even though most of the players were exchange students from Japan.

“We got there and everybody on their team was Japanese,” he said. “I was stunned. I thought, ‘They’re from Brazil?’ ”

Sheff didn’t ponder the question too long, though. He led off the game with a single and finished with two hits, two runs batted in and two stolen bases.

During the past five weeks, Sheff has handled all pitching--foreign and domestic--fairly well.

In the Olympic Sports Festival in Oklahoma, Sheff was five for 15 with five extra-base hits and six stolen bases. His performance helped the West win the bronze medal and earned Sheff a spot on the United States team for the World Junior Baseball tournament, which includes teams from 12 countries.

The team played three exhibition games against Mexico in Iowa, where Sheff went 10 for 17, before coming to Canada for the tournament.

Going into tonight’s game against Mexico, Sheff is five for 15 with four stolen bases and three RBIs.

But Sheff has never had too many problems at the plate. During his four years at Laguna Hills, he had 129 hits, an Orange County career record.

He also was a four-year starter on the school’s basketball team, but he signed a letter of intent to play baseball at Pepperdine next year.

“Since Chris started concentrating solely on baseball, he’s improved tremendously,” said Laguna Hills Coach Jack Hodges, who is an assistant with the U.S. team. “He’s become a very serious hitter.”

Not to mention a well-traveled hitter.

Sheff, 18, hasn’t been home for five weeks, beginning with the Olympic Sports Festival. In fact, he hasn’t been home for more than five consecutive days since school ended in June.

After getting two hits in the Orange County All-Star game, Sheff played in the Orange County vs. Los Angeles County game.

From there, it was off to Fresno for the Southern California-Northern California all-star game. Sheff’s next stop was Tulsa for a tournament featuring teams from California, Oklahoma and Florida.

“I’m enjoying playing all the time, but I would like to get home for a week or two,” Sheff said. “Being away this long has had its advantages. I think I’ve finally learned how to do laundry. That will help when I go to college.”

When Sheff does get home on Monday, he’ll have a whole day to rest before leaving for Pepperdine.

“It’s like being in the minor leagues,” he said. “But I got a huge bag of souvenirs.”

This is the sixth all-star tournament or game that Sheff has competed in this summer and by far the most unique and perplexing to him.

Oh, the game is pretty much the same. But there have been a few cultural differences, namely the language barrier.

“The pitcher will shout, ‘Yabba dabba doo,’ or something to his outfielder,” Sheff said. “It’s hard to understand what’s going on sometimes.”

According to Sheff, the U.S. players are the only ones having a problem with language, which puts them at a disadvantage.

“We have to hide and conceal our signs,” Sheff said. “They don’t. I was at bat the other night and the catcher was yelling to the pitcher. I think he was telling him what to throw. I wasn’t going to be able to figure it out.”

The United States is the tournament’s defending champion. The U.S. took the title from Cuba last year in Sydney, Australia. Cuba had won the previous five tournaments.

“The only think I want to do is to help the United States win the gold medal again,” Sheff said.