NEW KID ON THE BLOCK : Tony Bloomfield has Replaced Jim O’Brien as Baseball Coach at Harbor College. Now He Must Keep Up the Winning Tradition.

Watching Harbor College baseball games this season without Jim O’Brien pacing in front of the Seahawks’ dugout will seem strange. The legendary coach retired in May after winning three state community college baseball championships and 11 conference titles in 15 years at Harbor.

Despite O’Brien’s departure, expectations are high for Harbor. O’Brien’s successor is 28-year-old Tony Bloomfield, a former player and assistant under O’Brien. He vows that there will be no letdown in the quality of the program, although repeating last year’s feat (Harbor won the state title, went undefeated in league play and won a state-record 51 games) will be tough.

“The teams in our league think they can beat us this year because OB is out,” Bloomfield said. “But it’s not going to happen. They think they’re going to have it a little bit easier and they’re wrong.

“It’s basically OB’s program, I’m just running it. I’m just the drill sergeant. We’re not doing anything different. Settling for second place doesn’t cut it around here.”

Bloomfield was an all-state shortstop at Harbor in 1983. Then he played at the University of Nevada where he also served as an assistant after graduating. O’Brien hired him as his top assistant in 1989 because he planned to retire from coaching to dedicate more time to his family and duties as Harbor athletic director.

The Seahawks open Southern California Athletic Conference play at home on March 7 against East Los Angeles. Harbor (10-4) had its 30-game home winning streak broken Feb. 12 when it lost to Orange Coast College, but the Seahawks have won two big tournaments (San Diego Mesa and Casey Stengel).

“We’re going to win on pitching and defense,” Bloomfield said.

Harbor has a solid pitching staff despite losing Pat Ahearne (Pepperdine University), Sky Lasowitz (Pepperdine), Jeff Hunter (Cal State Los Angeles), Ryan Karp (University of Miami) and John Ingram (Philadelphia Phillies).

Sophomores Carey Lundstrom and Chico Limas will start most games. Lundstrom is a powerful right-hander who compiled a 3-0 record last season and Limas is a 6-foot-1 lefty from Banning High. Sophomores Erik Russell and Tom Fulkerson will also be in the starting rotation.

“I thought our pitching was average, but after seeing some (community college) teams I think we’re great,” Bloomfield said. “We didn’t think going in we would be this good, but we have about 10 guys we can throw out there.”

Sophomore David Jund will start at first base and Ricardo Gutierrez, Harbor’s top batter (.395), is the starter at second. Mark Lewis, an All-CIF and All-South Bay fresh man from El Segundo High, will replace All-American Tony Liebsack (Florida State University) at shortstop.

Freshman Rene Lopez will start at third base when he recovers from minor injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident two weeks ago. Left fielder Joey Miller was also involved in the accident, but will be out for the season because of a broken knee cap. Lopez is second on the team in batting at .375.

Robert Lewis, Mark’s brother, returns at catcher. The sophomore from Rolling Hills signed early with Texas A & M. With Miller out for the season, freshmen Anthony Griffin and Ernie Jaramillo will battle for the starting position in left field. Sophomore Mike Murphy will start at center, but freshman Edward Lovato (Carson) will also play considerably at the position. Sophomore Rodney Garcia will replace Matt Nuez, last year’s SCAC most valuable player, at right field with freshman Bill Inman (Narbonne) as a his backup.

Freshmen Alfredo Rodriguez, German Casillas and Dale Johnson will also get considerable playing time. Rodriguez was an All-City and All-South Bay shortstop at Carson and Johnson was an All-City and All-South Bay catcher at San Pedro.

“We had a real good recruiting year,” Bloomfield said. “This team is young, but it definitely has the potential to win a state title. There’s no doubt about it. Injuries is the only way we wouldn’t win it. I can’t see any other way we wouldn’t.”