COMMUNITY COLLEGE BASEBALL : Three Coaches Will Make Their Debuts This Season

Normally, when the community college baseball season starts, the coaches are talking about all the new players.

This season, which begins Friday, the coaches seem almost as new as the players. Three teams in the Orange Empire Conference--Orange Coast, Saddleback and Riverside--have first-year coaches.

Scott Groot succeeds Mike Mayne at OCC. After 13 years in charge, Mayne is taking a year off, but don’t look for a lot of changes in the Pirates. Groot played for and was an assistant under Mayne, and Mayne is an assistant this season. OCC was 31-11-1 last season.

Jack Hodges took over at Saddleback for Jim Brideweser, who died last summer after a long illness. Saddleback was 16-18-1 a year ago.

Hodges was the coach at Laguna Hills High School for nine season, before coming to Saddleback. He had a career-record of 154-69 and led the Hawks to the 1984 Southern Section 2-A title.

Dennis Rogers, who was the pitching coach at Cal State Fullerton the past two years, takes over at Riverside for Tim Brown, who resigned after a 7-26-1 season last year.

With Mayne stepping down, Rancho Santiago’s Don Sneddon, who has a record of 238-71 in eight seasons, is the dean of the conference coaches. The Dons were 29-17 last season.

Sneddon led Rancho Santiago to the 1988 Orange Empire Conference title, but lost in the state finals to Sacramento City.

Scott Pickler of Cypress is second in service with a record of 145-72 in five seasons. Pickler led Cypress to the conference title last season and a 33-13 record.

Nick Fuscardo of Fullerton is third in experience with four seasons. He has mark of 88-66-3, but the Hornets struggled to a 12-27 finish in 1989.

Golden West’s Bert Villarreal is starting his second season after going 20-15-1 last season.

In Friday’s openers, OCC plays Chaffey and Cypress takes on Mt. San Jacinto, both at 2:30 p.m., in the first round of the College of the Desert Tournament; Fullerton plays a 2 p.m. game against Butte in the first round of the San Diego Mesa tournament, and Saddleback plays at Moorpark at 2 p.m.

On Saturday, Golden West plays host to East Los Angeles at noon, and Long Beach is at Rancho Santiago at 1 p.m.