USIU Coach Hopes Hard Work Pays Off

The last thing George Kachigian expected to be doing this February was spend 12 hours a day knocking on doors, conducting telephone solicitations and making daily bank deposits. Kachigian, the baseball coach at U.S. International, was counting on a more leisurely pace, one that would include long afternoons on the ball field.

That has not been the case. Kachigian spends only two hours a day with his players, barely enough time to get acquainted, between his daily runs on the fund-raising trail. Since USIU’s trustees voted to eliminate sports at the university, Kachigian has been scrambling to raise the money needed to play the 1991 season on a self-supporting basis.

“I wanted to just relax and coach baseball, and help some young kids out,” said Kachigian, a former Chicago Cubs scout and retired Navy captain in his fifth season as the Gulls’ coach. “But this is all part of it now. You have to do what you have to do.”

And what Kachigian believes he has to do is remain loyal to his 25 players. Kachigian was one of three USIU coaches who quickly appealed the trustees’ decision in December and received clearance to “play if you can pay.”

For six weeks in row, Kachigian has rolled out of bed at 8 a.m. to begin making his charity calls. So far, he has raised $16,000 and he won’t let up until he reaches $24,000, the sum needed to cover operating costs.

In the meantime, 23 of Kachigian’s players gave him a vote of confidence by not transferring.

“The loyalty of the kids is obvious,” he said. “They’re here playing hard and working out hard.”

Kachigian said USIU will have its best team in years, but that doesn’t mean the Gulls will be winners. Their schedule makes that all but impossible. More than 80% of their games will come against 15 Division I teams now ranked in the preseason top 20.

“Our goal is the same as always, that the kids develop into better ballplayers by the end of the season,” Kachigian said. “That’s the way I judge the coaching. If the players don’t show improvement, we haven’t done our job. And the education goes without saying.”

USIU’s lineup will be packed with speed and power, but defense and pitching remain a concern. The Gulls have only two returning starters: first baseman Darrin Forster, a converted outfielder, and catcher Mike Murphy. But the rest of the infield, which committed five errors in an 8-2 loss to Cal Poly Pomona last weekend, is young.

The Gulls have two reliable starters in left-hander Mike Whisonant and right-hander Jeff Matranga, but like the infield, the pitching staff lacks depth.

“Any kind of injury will hurt us bad,” Kachigian said. “We’ve got three sophomores starting in the infield. But we’ve also got nine guys in the lineup that can put it out of the park.”

The outfield includes four junior transfers: Mike Vallarelli (who hit .390 and .425 in two seasons at Grossmont College), Chris Kynett, James Gibson and David Young, who has thrown out two runners at the plate in two games.

The Gulls are 0-2 and begin a two-game series today at USC. Waiting in the wings are Fresno State, UCLA, Cal State Long Beach, Nevada Las Vegas, UC Santa Barbara, San Diego State, Pepperdine, Cal State Fullerton, Arizona State and others.

But it is that grueling schedule, as much as anything, that kept all but two USIU players from jumping ship before the season.

“Our schedule has always been our No. 1 recruiting tool,” Kachigian said.