Eagle Rock Baseball Team Is Young, but It Has Opponents on the Run

For many years, Mike Houlemard watched Eagle Rock High take its lumps in baseball from City powers Franklin, Marshall and Wilson. In 25 years at the school, he mainly stayed in the wings as athletic director.

In 1988, Houlemard decided to try his hand at coaching, and the Eagles’ baseball program is on the upswing.

In his first season, Houlemard led Eagle Rock into the playoffs, and this season, after nearly three weeks of play, the Eagles top the rugged Northeast League with a 5-1 record.

“This is the first year that we’ve ever started off winning,” said Houlemard, who assists Athletic Director Mike Lomen during the fall semester. “Over the years, we haven’t been too successful. . . . A major goal was just to be competitive.”

This season, Eagle Rock, which has only three senior starters, has been more than competitive in defeating Franklin, Verdugo Hills and Marshall (twice). Wilson handed the Eagles their only loss with a two-out, seventh-inning rally.

Franklin Coach Richard Campbell has noticed the difference in Eagle Rock.

“It used to be that Eagle Rock never posed a threat to Franklin,” said Campbell, whose Panthers won the City 3-A Division title last season. “Normally, in our league you had to worry about Wilson and Franklin, but not Eagle Rock.”

What Houlemard has done is combine Eagle Rock’s abundance of youth with a pair of senior pitchers--Tom Loera and Juaquin Arballo--and turned the team into a winner.

“Our two 12th-grade pitchers have had to carry us and pitch every other day,” Houlemard said. “They’re our big-time guys and when they start to cry about being tired, I just tell them that this is the time to show everyone what they have.”

Loera, who is 2-1 and has 10 hits in Eagle Rock’s past three games, has a twin brother who starts in right field, and a younger brother who plays on the junior varsity.

“The thing is that all three of them are named after their father, Thomas Jerry Loera, Sr.,” Houlemard said. “We call one Tom, the other Jerry, and the younger one, who we may bring up to pitch for the varsity before the season is over, Junior.”

However, it is Arballo, an all-league selection last year and 2-0 this season, who has earned the most praise from opposing coaches.

“He’s by far their best ballplayer,” Campbell said. “He’s a real competitor and if he’s on and throwing strikes, he is tough to beat.”

Because Eagle Rock is not regarded as a heavy-hitting team, quality pitching is essential.

“Our pitching has held up so far, but good pitching will get us out,” Houlemard said. “However, if you make a mistake against us, we will hurt you.”

A key factor in Eagle Rock’s success is that many of the Eagles have played together since Little League and most played on last season’s 6-10 team.

After Arballo and the Loera twins, six underclassmen complete the Eagles’ regular lineup--the Estrada brothers, Rueben, a sophomore contact hitter, and Raul, a junior cleanup hitter; junior switch-hitter Eddie Espinosa; junior center fielder Arin Dunn; junior third baseman Robert Mancilla, and junior left fielder Eric Lozana.

“They may be young, schoolwise, but they are mature from playing together for so long,” Campbell said. “Right now, they’re hot. They are getting timely hits and good pitching, and are capitalizing on other teams’ mistakes.

“They are going to be tough to knock off as long as they are playing together as a team.”

Houlemard said the Eagles will need pitching help to keep winning, but is optimistic about their playoff chances.

“We are in first place now, but I do expect us to have our problems later in the season,” Houlemard said. “We may lose to a Franklin or a Wilson but we should beat the other teams. We just have to continue to play our game and not make too many mistakes.”

Napoleon Kaufman of Lompoc ran a wind-aided 10.57 seconds in the 100 meters Saturday at the Santa Barbara Relays. The junior, one of the top running backs in the nation last fall, also won the long jump at 23 feet 9 1/2 inches and ran on the Braves’ winning 400-meter and 800-meter relay teams.

Other impressive performers at Santa Barbara included Agoura’s outstanding distance runner, Brian Dameworth, who won the 1,500 meters (3:55.8) and 3,200 meters (9:01.2), and Carpinteria’s Coley Candaele, who anchored the Warriors’ winning 3,200-meter and sprint medley relay teams.

In the girls’ competition, freshman Marion Jones of Rio Mesa won the 100 meters in a wind-aided 11.74 and ran on the Spartans’ winning 400-meter, 800-meter and sprint medley relay teams.

In the Pasadena Games, the only individual double winners were Mark Noreiga of Pasadena, in the 100 meters (10.98) and 200 meters (21.61); Inger Miller of Pasadena Muir, in the girls’ 100 meters (11.65) and 200 meters (23.67), and Felice Lipscomb of Santa Monica, in the girls’ 100-meter hurdles (14.12) and 300-meter low hurdles (44.86).

Indiana prep star Damon Bailey, who gained attention as an eighth-grader when Indiana basketball Coach Bobby Knight began touting him, finished his high school career in style Saturday night.

The 6-foot-3 guard scored 30 points to lead Bedford North Lawrence to a 63-60 victory over Concord for the Indiana state championship before a national record crowd of 41,046 at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis.

After Bedford fell behind, 58-52, with 2:38 remaining, Bailey, who will attend Indiana next fall, scored his team’s final 11 points. He finished his prep days as the state’s career scoring leader with 3,134 points.