JC NOTES : Red-Hot Harbor Squad Burning Up Opponents

Success is nothing new to Harbor College baseball Coach Jim O’Brien, but the depth and talent on this year’s team may be unprecedented.

O’Brien said at the start of the season that this may be his best team in 15 years at the school. In that span, the Seahawks have won 10 conference championships and two state titles (1978 and 1984).

“This is a very similar type of team (to the 1984 team), defensively and offensively,” O’Brien said. “We have lots of versatility and play really well together.”

As usual, Harbor is headed to the state tournament, which will be held at UC Irvine in May. The Seahawks are ranked No. 1 in Southern California with a 31-3 record that includes a 20-game winning streak.

On Wednesday, the red-hot Seahawks beat state champion Cerritos, 3-1, in the championship game of the Casey Stengel Tournament. The loss snapped a 15-game winning streak for the Falcons, who are 20-3.

And, as usual, the Seahawks are cruising through the six-member Southern California Athletic Conference with a 10-0 record.

“The talent on this team is just amazing,” said sophomore relief pitcher John Ingram. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Harbor is solid all around. O’Brien’s preseason forecast said pitching would be his team’s strength, and it is. The Seahawks’ strong hitting, however, can’t be overlooked.

Nine players are batting at least .340. Freshman Rodney Garcia, an all-city selection at San Pedro High, leads the pack with a .448 average. Freshmen Carlos Dominguez and Robert Lewis (Rolling Hills) and sophomore shortstop Tony Liebsack are close to .400.

Sophomore Jeff Hunter leads the Seahawks on the mound. The 6-foot-3, 185-pound right-hander from South Torrance High has a 7-0 record. Sophomore Pat Ahearne (St. Bernard High), who went 11-5 last season, has also been impressive this year with a 7-1 mark.

Sophomore Sky Lasowitz, a part-time starter/reliever, has a 4-0 record, and Banning freshman Chico Limas is 3-0.

O’Brien says there’s no limit to what this team can do. “Right now we’re going on all cylinders,” he said. “We’re doing everything well, and we have a lot of confidence.”

El Camino College is struggling under interim baseball Coach Glen LeVier, but there’s plenty of time for improvement, and the Warriors are capitalizing. El Camino is riding a two-game winning streak after defeating a pair of South Coast Conference foes.

The Warriors beat cross-town rival Long Beach, 7-4, on Saturday and Pasadena, 11-6, on Tuesday.

Saturday’s win snapped a four-game losing streak for the Warriors, who are 3-6 in the five-member SCC and 10-11 overall.

The victory over Long Beach was extra sweet for LeVier, a former assistant coach there who didn’t leave the school on good terms at the end of last season.

El Camino’s golf team is doing well, considering that two of its top players are no longer with the team. One dropped out of school for personal reasons, and the other transferred to USC.

But that hasn’t stopped El Camino from succeeding in the five-member South Coast Conference, which includes powerhouse Long Beach.

Coach Al Greenleaf says his team has a good chance of qualifying for the regional tournament in San Diego on May 7. The Warriors have a couple of early-season tournament victories and have placed well in all their events.

On Tuesday, El Camino placed second to Long Beach in a four-team tournament that also included conference rivals Cerritos and Mt. San Antonio College.

“We’re much improved from last year,” said Greenleaf, who took over the program last season after a five-year hiatus. “We’ll probably finish second or third in our conference. We definitely won’t finish lower than third.”

El Camino’s top three golfers--Archie Uenishi, Scott Johnston and Holden Kim--are shooting in the mid-70s. No. 4 Ruben Padilla and No. 5 Steve Jund average in the upper 70s, though they had never competed before this season.