In the Hot Corner : Baseball: Bob Lofrano’s successor at Chatsworth is not a name coach, but he’s game just the same.

The new Chatsworth High baseball coach, the one with no varsity experience, the one replacing a man who led the team to nine consecutive league championships, began roll call during the first day of baseball class in September.

A roomful of steely eyes watched every move.

Tom Meusborn scanned his clipboard and called a name:

“Mike Man-ker-oos - co.”

Muffled snickers from lowered heads followed. Mike Mancuso, a returning starter, was too stunned to speak. “That does it, I’m outta here , “ he thought.

It wasn’t the first time the idea had struck Mancuso--and other key Chatsworth players--like a fastball to the chops.

Plans to transfer were hastily made in the days following Coach Bob Lofrano’s resignation in August. Lofrano, who became co-coach at Pierce College, posted an 11-year record of 188-59. Chatsworth, ranked No. 1 in the nation for most of 1988 by USA Today, had advanced to the 4-A semifinals the past three years. Last year alone, four players were drafted and received scholarship offers.

Would the tradition be trashed without Lofrano?

With the hiring of Meusborn--whose experience consisted of three unremarkable seasons coaching the Grant junior varsity--not everyone wanted to wait around and find out.

Mancuso intended to transfer to El Camino Real where his father is a teacher. Reed McMackin, the only other returning starter, was headed for L. A. Baptist where Chatsworth assistant Joe Koh had been named coach. Danny Rodriguez, a top pitcher from last year’s junior varsity, planned to enroll at San Fernando.

“None of us had met Coach Meusborn, but transferring was the route we were going to take,” Mancuso said.

Lofrano got wind of the impending exodus, contacted the players and persuaded them to stay. “Give this guy a chance,” their former coach told them. “I like him. He’s got a good baseball head.”

So Meusborn, 29, got his chance. And he proceeded to mangle Mancuso’s name.

Nice first impression.

The earlier thoughts of abandoning a sinking ship threatened to mushroom into full-scale mutiny. The players sauntered onto the field for the first day of practice.

“A lot of guys came out saying, ‘We can let down now, Mr. Lofrano is gone,’ ” Mancuso recalled. “Then Coach Meusborn started yelling and we knew, hey, there isn’t going to be any letup.”

Several clear instructions, crisp drills and well-timed one-liners later . . . Meusborn could have attached a SOLD sign to every player’s jersey.

“We’re picking up where we left off and going a bit further,” McMackin said excitedly. “I could tell right away that he’s a really good coach.”

Meusborn, unsullied and energetic, constantly flashes an engaging, boyish grin. The former Gardena High and El Camino College shortstop pitches an hour of batting practice each day and occasionally grabs a player’s mitt and fields ground balls to demonstrate proper fundamentals.

“A new coach coming in has to lead by example,” Meusborn said. “I’m here to put in hard work and bring enthusiasm and organization and get commitment from the players.”

Commitment came through communication for Meusborn, who mixes earnestness with a healthy dose of fun. He chooses a 7-Up player of the day at the end of every practice and hands out a soda. He nicknamed the Chancellors “The Dirt-Baggers” because after the graduation of every power hitter last year, they will need to scratch and scrap for runs.

This brash bunch of Valley kids and Meusborn, a South Bay surfer and Cal State Long Beach graduate, found common ground on the brick dust and evenly mowed infield at Chatsworth High.

The coach even learned how to pronounce Mancuso’s name.

“There is a relaxed intensity at practice. He’s established himself very well,” said Mancuso, the team’s catcher.

A tougher sell would be the Chatsworth boosters, a collection of parents and longtime followers with expectations as high as an infield pop fly. Last year, in fact, all it took was one strike and Lofrano was out of favor with this group.

Boosters were incensed that Lofrano would lead a baseball coaches’ boycott of the playoffs as part of a schoolteachers’ strike against the L. A. Unified School District. Never mind that Lofrano might have a career, a family and co-workers to consider. Never mind the issues behind the strike. The message was clear: “We want our kids to play ball.”

And when play resumed, so did the more commonplace interference from parents. Friendly suggestions like, “Don’t tell Johnny to bunt, he hit lots of home runs in Little League.”

“I got hardened over the years,” Lofrano said. “I learned to shine on the phone calls after a while.”

Meusborn merely shines, breaking into that smile at the mention of boosters. Although he is quick to emphasize that Johnny will be bunting this year, diplomacy is the game plan.

“It’s not a shock to me to have parents watching practice, sitting in the bleachers or watching from their cars,” he said with the nervous laugh of a new kid on the chopping block. “They figured their sons would be playing for Coach Lofrano.

“Of course they are curious.”

Early returns from the peanut gallery are favorable.

“I watch the team practice nearly every day and I think Tom Meusborn is terrific,” said Barry Root, whose son, Mitch, is a talented junior. “He works as hard as the kids do. In fact, he’s almost like one of the kids.”

Meusborn moved Mitch from shortstop to center field, a switch that Barry believes is for the best.

“He’s just a good guy,” Barry Root said of the coach. “If we go .500, it won’t be because he didn’t try his hardest or didn’t know baseball.”

Meusborn plans to settle in at Chatsworth for a long time. “I’m a stable guy,” he said, noting that he married his high school sweetheart, Mary, and recently bought a home in Granada Hills.

He has won over everyone associated with the program, it seems. Now to get down to the business of winning games.

CITY BASEBALL PREVIEWS: C13