Van Nuys Fills Post in Baseball

Van Nuys High has hired Bill Gordon, a newcomer to the Valley, to replace Kenji Mochizuki as the school’s baseball coach.

Mochizuki, the Wolves’ varsity football coach, is leaving the baseball position because of time constraints.

Gordon, 42, inherits a program that did not field a junior-varsity team last year. The Wolves’ varsity went 7-9 in Mid-Valley League play and finished one game behind league-champion Monroe.

“Our first priority was to build up our JV program,” Gordon said.

Gordon, who coached freshman baseball for one year in the Glendora Unified School District 20 years ago, has spent the past two decades teaching junior high physical education in Hollywood and South-Central Los Angeles.

“It was time for a change. Everything was all junior high P. E.,” Gordon said. “I was thinking of coaching for more of a challenge.”

Gordon applied for a transfer to the Valley, and Van Nuys called him for the job. He is also serving as an assistant football coach.

“We know that he’s had excellent evaluations and excellent recommendations from everyone we asked,” Van Nuys Athletic Director Rick Rossini said. “We’ve been told that he’s a very consistent, very dependable person.”

Gordon, meanwhile, acknowledges that he is heading into the unknown. “I know very little (about the Van Nuys baseball team),” he said. “I know there was no JV team last year and because of that, there are a lot of unknowns.”

One player with whom Gordon has familiarized himself is Lorenzo Morales, a returning all-league infielder who Gordon says will be central to the team’s makeup.

“I know we have our work cut out for us,” Gordon said, “but hopefully, we’ll be competitive.”