COLLEGE BASEBALL PREVIEW : Occidental, Glendale Hopeful About Drives for League Titles

After 1990 seasons of unfulfilled expectations, the Occidental and Glendale College baseball programs are beginning their 1991 seasons with different team makeups but with the same optimistic outlook.

At Occidental, Coach Jeff Henderson begins his sixth season with one of his most experienced teams, and the Tigers figure to challenge for their first Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference since 1982.

“Last year, we won a lot of close games, but we didn’t swing the bat as well as we anticipated and did not put runs on the board the way we thought we would,” said Henderson, whose team finished 20-14 overall and 12-6 in the SCIAC.

“We lost some key guys, but most of the guys who really did the job last season were juniors and they’re all back.”

At Glendale, 13th-year Coach Steve Coots surrounds an experienced pitching staff with numerous new position players who are expected to help the Vaqueros be competitive in the Western State Conference.

“It’s pretty much a brand new team,” said Coots, whose team was 12-26 overall and 6-14 in the WSC last season.

“Our strength is going to be our infield defense.”

A look at Occidental and Glendale follows:

OCCIDENTAL

The Tigers’ experience is expected to help offset the loss of their two most valuable players from last season.

All-SCIAC catcher Mike Kniseley graduated and two-time All-SCIAC pitcher Dave Stoll transferred to UCLA to build on the success he achieved at Occidental.

Stoll, a left-hander, led the SCIAC in strikeouts as a freshman and compiled a 6-3 record and 2.81 earned-run average last season as a sophomore.

“Anytime you lose a guy like that you feel it,” Henderson said. “But we feel we have some quality guys coming back. I don’t think it’s a void that can’t be filled.”

Senior Sid Rodriguez, junior Neil Harrington and sophomore Rich Mather will open the season as the starting pitchers.

Bob Kennedy, a junior transfer from George Washington University, will replace Kniseley behind the plate.

The Tigers’ strength is up the middle. Senior shortstop Mark Harris was all-conference last season when he batted .407 with six home runs and 29 runs batted in.

All-SCIAC center fielder Jason Rusk also returns after batting .357 as a junior.

Other key returning players include senior Scott McDonald, who was second-team All-SCIAC at designated-hitter, and second baseman Bart Dalton.

Ryan Koch and Jim Pack will start in the outfield and Jeff Heberlein will play third base.

Freshman Derrick Williams, who played quarterback for Occidental last fall, is recovering from an ankle injury but is expected to play first base and pitch in relief when he has healed.

The Tigers also will benefit from the addition of freshman Blair Slattery, an All-Southern Section third baseman at San Marino High who is playing basketball.

“We’re a team with average power so we’re going to have string some hits together and make things happen,” Henderson said. “We’re not going to be waiting for the three-run homer.”

Occidental will play a 36-game schedule and compete for the SCIAC title with pitching-rich La Verne, defending champion Claremont and Redlands.

GLENDALE

The Vaqueros lost two key pitchers in Matt Whisenant, who signed with the Philadelphia Phillies, and Steve Dempsey, who is now the No. 1 reliever for Cal Lutheran.

But Glendale showed it still had plenty of pitching by winning the Foothill tournament last weekend.

The Vaqueros beat Southwestern and Pierce and lost to Citrus, but won the round-robin event.

Right-hander Gary Vlcek earned a complete-game victory, right-hander Dave Berkey was impressive and left-hander Sean Mercer also pitched well but was victimized by errors.

For Glendale to compete against WSC teams such as Canyons and Moorpark, the Vaqueros must eliminate those mistakes. Coots is confident that his young infield will steadily improve.

Freshman first baseman Mickey Moreno, redshirt freshman second baseman Mike Regan and freshman third baseman Jose Robles all come from Hoover High.

Sophomore shortstop Jim Aiwasian, a transfer from Citrus, is the shortstop.

“(Infield defense) was a major problem last year,” Coots said. “I guess you could say that this group is kind of the guts of our team.”

Sophomores Victor Ramirez and Swain Wukelich, who played shortstop last season, will be regulars in the outfield.