COMMUNITY COLLEGE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA BASEBALL REGIONAL : Illness Clouds Lackie’s Playoff Pitching Status

Matt Lackie spent a good part of the season helping Rancho Santiago College win the Orange Empire Conference baseball title.

On April 17, the sophomore right-hander pitched a seven-hitter as the Dons defeated second-place Golden West, 12-3, to take a 2 1/2-game lead with six left.

The victory improved his record to 10-2, but it also turned out to be his last appearance for more than two weeks. The day after that victory, Lackie started to feel sick. Two days later, he was too ill to attend classes.

He spent most of the next two weeks in bed, waiting for calls from Coach Don Sneddon to see how the team did.

“I was so weak,” Lackie said, “that all I could do was just lay there. It was terrible. But I’m doing much better. I can feel my strength coming back.”

At first it was thought to be just the flu, but it was discovered that the 6-foot-2-inch Lackie had a viral infection. He lost 20 pounds and was down to 165 pounds.

Lackie, from Mission Viejo High School, finally returned to the mound last Saturday in Rancho Santiago’s final conference game.

But things didn’t go too well.

He allowed nine runs, four earned, in 1 2/3 innings of a 14-6 loss to Fullerton. Rancho Santiago’s defense didn’t help, making four errors.

“It’s been hard to tell how well he’s doing,” Sneddon said. “Because of the heat and our poor defense in the Fullerton game, we didn’t get a very good read. He got the ground balls he needs to be effective, but we didn’t field them. He pitched in a squad game Tuesday and was better, but his arm strength isn’t back yet. We’ll start him and just see how far he can go Saturday.”

The Dons (32-9) open the Southern California Regional playoffs at home against Mt. San Jacinto (20-21) at 2 p.m. today. The teams play again at 11 a.m. Saturday in the best-of-three series. Lackie is scheduled to start Saturday.

Lackie’s recent illness was his second at Rancho Santiago. He had mononucleosis and was forced to redshirt in the 1988 season. Last season, he worked in relief, getting two victories with a 5.85 earned-run average in 11 games.

He remained a reliever last fall, but was moved to the starting rotation just before the season because he was the Dons’ most consistent pitcher.

Lackie has pitched in a team-high 18 games this season despite missing two starts because of his illness. He also had two saves. Lackie was 7-2 with a save and a 3.86 ERA in conference games.

“He was the guy that did it all year,” Sneddon said. “Now we just have to see if he is healthy enough to do it again.”

In today’s 2 p.m. playoff games:

Mt. San Jacinto (20-21) at Rancho Santiago (32-9)--Jerry Aschoff (7-3), a sophomore left-hander, will start for Rancho Santiago. The Dons led the conference with 53 home runs, including 15 by Marty Neff and 10 by Steve Grack. Neff had 50 RBIs, Grack had 47 and Conrad Colby 43. Colby was the conference’s top hitter with a .404 average.

Rancho Santiago stole 67 bases in 77 attempts. Left-fielder Jeremy Sherman stole 22 in 24 attempts.

Cuesta (23-12) at Golden West (25-12)--Golden West is led by sophomores Frank Herman and Robb Carabba and freshmen Gerad Cawhorn and Gary Christopherson. Christopherson, a designated hitter, hit .386 and had 10 home runs and 51 RBIs; third baseman Cawhorn hit .375 with 15 doubles and 35 RBIs; Herman, a center fielder, had a .379 average with 16 doubles and 35 RBIs, and Carabba hit .385.

Sophomore right-hander Todd Long (7-3) will start for Golden West.

Fullerton (24-13) at College of the Canyons (24-12)--Fullerton will start Steve Trachsel (8-3), who was bothered by a tired arm the final two weeks of the conference season. He last pitched April 28. Jim Short, a sophomore first baseman, hit .326 and 26 of his 47 hits were for extra bases. He had 12 home runs, 13 doubles and one triple and drove in 53 runs. Fullerton has 42 home runs, 10 by Gary Mota and eight by Tom Wilson.