BASEBALL PREVIEW : Rookies Spring Into Spotlight : Junior colleges: Canyons and six other schools will open their seasons today sporting high hopes despite many first-year players.

Although today is Groundhog Day, the more reliable sign of the approaching spring could be the gopher balls that will be popping into the sky around Valley-area junior college baseball fields.

While the groundhog has yet to deliver a verdict on the advent of spring, local junior college teams will ring out winter with the crack of bats and slap of gloves when all seven teams open their seasons today.

In 2 p.m. nonconference games, Mission will play at Antelope Valley, Saddleback will play at Moorpark, and East Los Angeles will play at Pierce.

Additionally, three Valley-area teams will compete in the Foothill tournament, co-sponsored by Glendale and Citrus. Glendale will play Riverside at 2 p.m. and College of the Canyons will play Ventura at 10 a.m., both at Stengel Field in Glendale; and Valley will meet defending state champion Cerritos in a 10 a.m. game at Citrus.

Not surprisingly, every local coach is approaching the season optimistically, but, until proven otherwise, Canyons remains the king of Valley-area junior college baseball.

Three-time state champion during the 1980s, Canyons (24-13, 16-4 in the Western State Conference last season) shared the WSC title with Ventura and will field a youthful lineup in another bid for both titles.

“We’re a little different than any Canyons teams of the past,” said Coach Len Mohney, who has 24 freshmen on his 33-man roster. “We’re going to have to pitch and play defense. We’re going to struggle to score runs. Our pitching is unproven, but it’s good.” Redshirt sophomore pitcher Travis Regnolds returns after spending a year on the sidelines because of elbow surgery. Regnolds, a right-hander, had a 5-2 record for a 32-8 Canyons team in 1988. Sophomore Lance Gibson (3-1 and three saves), a member of the Woodland Hills West American Legion national championship team, has been moved from the bullpen to the rotation.

Mohney estimated that he will start six or seven freshmen, but sophomore catcher Robert Trujillo returns as does left fielder Gary Morgan, who hit .430 last season.

Like Canyons, Mission has a lot of inexperience, but the similarity ends there. Mission (10-23, 8-12, third in the Southern California Athletic Conference) has never made the state playoffs and does not even have a home field. The Free Spirit play their home games at Valley.

“We are greatly improved over last year; we have some legitimate junior college players this year at every position,” Mission Coach John Klitsner said.

Sophomore right-hander Jose Garcia (7-8, 3.65) was a first-team All-SCAC pick last season. First baseman John Kukawski (.343) is one of the few other veterans for Mission, which has 22 freshmen out of 26 players.

It is the nature of junior college baseball teams to have an abundance of rookies, but Moorpark and Pierce also have rookie coaches, at least in terms of college coaching. After a highly successful career at Chatsworth High, Bob Lofrano joins Bob Lyons as a co-coach at Pierce, and Ken Wagner has moved up to Moorpark after 20 years at Camarillo High (eight as head coach).

Lofrano brought freshman shortstop Vince Simili with him from Chatsworth.

“If we had a plus right now, it would be our hitting,” Lofrano said. “We’re basically a good average team in terms of making contact and putting the ball in play. I think our pitching right now is average and improving.”

Lofrano calls sophomore right-hander Chris Murphy the ace.

Shortstop Danny Smith and third baseman Darren Furlong are returning starters for Moorpark (20-14, 9-8, fourth in the WSC).

Steve Biggs, a freshman right-hander from Camarillo, began the school year on scholarship at Cal but transferred to Moorpark during semester break, Wagner said.

“He is real talented. I hope that pitching is going to be our strong point,” Wagner said. “There was some time to recruit, and we got some good kids in.”

Valley has that rarest of junior college athletic commodities--experience.

“We’re not very deep, but the starting nine guys are very experienced,” Coach Chris Johnson said. “That’s really where I feel most comfortable.”

Valley (29-12-1) welcomes back three members of the All-WSC second team: designated-hitter Mark Cavarretta (.390), third baseman John Stephens (.350) and right-handed pitcher Wayne Schull (4-2). First baseman E. J. Pape hit nine homers last season.

Antelope Valley Coach Frank Blua will build his team around a pair of veteran hitters, sophomores Jim Estes and Steve Lasagna, but Antelope Valley (9-23, 5-16 in the Foothill Conference) will need to improve on an 8.26 team earned-run average.

A first-team, all-conference outfielder, Estes led the team in batting, .367; runs batted in, 31; stolen bases, 10; and tied for the lead in home runs, six. Catcher Lasagna hit .300 with four home runs and 21 runs batted in.

“We can put together some decent power,” Blua said. “We are guardedly optimistic, obviously, after last year.”

A trio of All-WSC players provide good power for Glendale (16-20, 8-12). Center fielder John Bojanac hit eight home runs, and first baseman Art Chute hit six. Both were selected first-team all conference. Third baseman Paul Hugasian (five home runs) played shortstop last season.

“Defensively, we’ve shown signs of brilliance, but we’ve also been inconsistent,” Glendale Coach Steve Coots said.