COLLEGE DIVISION / MITCH POLIN : Big Man in a Czechoslovakian Pond

Pavel Kuta is a nothing short of a trailblazer.

A sophomore outfielder for The Master’s College in Newhall, the 23-year-old Kuta is not only regarded as the best baseball player in Czechoslovakia, he is the only Czech playing for a college in the United States.

Never mind that in 16 at-bats he is batting .188 with three hits and two runs batted in.

“He’s not as far along as you would want an American player to be at this point, but he’s picked up a lot, and he’s really come along well since he’s been here,” Coach Chris Harrison says.

Harrison said Kuta’s progress is pretty impressive when you consider that he didn’t pick up a baseball glove until he was 15, when the sport was in its infancy in Czechoslovakia.

“When I first started playing baseball, it was a really small sport there, and it still is a pretty small sport,” Kuta said. “It was just (at a) pure amateur level. There were not even any fields to play on.”

He said his parents had excelled in sports in Czechoslovakia, his mother as a canoeist and his father in the decathlon. As a youngster, Kuta played soccer for about six years and competed in basketball, tennis and swimming.

Kuta said he received his first taste of how baseball the game was supposed to be played, as well as his first meeting with Harrison, when an Athletes In Action team traveled to Czechoslovakia in the summer of 1985.

“That was the first time an American team had been there, and that’s the first time I really got excited about the game,” Kuta recalled.

When AIA toured Czechoslovakia again in 1987, Kuta made up his mind to play college baseball in the United States, but his plans were delayed by the political unrest in his homeland.

“I wanted to come to the U.S. in 1988, but it was hard because we still had a lot of problems with the government, and they wouldn’t let me come here,” Kuta said.

He finally received his opportunity after the revolution had started in Czechoslovakia in November of 1989.

“It happened so quick,” Kuta said. “It happened in November, and I was here in January (1990). If not for that, I probably never would have come here. I was thankful that (the revolution) happened and not just because of baseball.”

But Kuta didn’t start his collegiate career at The Master’s immediately. Gary Johnson, also a former AIA coach, arranged for Kuta to attend and play at Belhaven College in Jackson, Miss., as a freshman last year.

“It was a good experience, but it was tough because I didn’t have a chance to make all the adjustments I needed,” Kuta said. “It was a hard adjustment because I just came (to the U.S.) and played. We just jumped right in and we played 65 games.”

He was not happy with the program at Belhaven, though, and said that after the season he contacted Harrison and arranged to transfer to The Master’s.

“One of the main reasons I left is that they didn’t have good coaches,” Kuta said. “They weren’t as good as the ones that came to see us (in Czechoslovakia), so I was happy to come here because I felt I could really learn a lot from (Harrison).”

Kuta admits it has not been easy to play for the Mustangs, who are one of the stronger teams in the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics District 3, although it has been enjoyable for him.

“It’s a great challenge for me just to be here and have a chance to practice and play here,” he said. “But that’s what I like. I like to be challenged and this is real hard.”

He also enjoys playing on a regulation baseball diamond, which is still a luxury in his hometown of Prague.

“In Prague, they still don’t have a regular field,” Kuta said. “They play on a (made over) soccer field. So for me this is just great because I have the chance to play on a real field. I walk out there and just admire the field and the equipment we have here.”

If he had received the proper training and equipment all along, Harrison said, there is no telling how successful a player Kuta could be at this point.

“He’s a good athlete,” Harrison said. “He probably could have played (NCAA) Division I ball if he had been brought up in the sport.”

While he is not a star player in the United States, Kuta says it is a different story when he returns home to play for the Czechoslovakian national team. He usually plays third base or pitches for the national team.

“Maybe I shouldn’t say this, but for most of the players I’m kind of a hero because I was the first guy to have a chance to come over here and play,” he said. “When I came back last year, I saw they were very motivated because of it.”

As a baseball player, Kuta may never approach the major leagues, but in Czechoslovakia he is already in a class by himself.

College Division Notes

The Westmont men’s basketball team advanced to the second round of the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics tournament before losing, 55-52, in overtime to top-seeded Wisconsin Eau Claire in Kansas City last week. The Warriors had defeated Emporia State of Kansas in the first round, 65-55. Westmont, making its best showing in the tournament since it reached the semifinals in 1984, finished at 22-10.

In women’s basketball, Cal Poly Pomona’s hopes of a third consecutive berth in the NCAA Division II final four tournament ended in an 82-52 loss Saturday to Southeast Missouri State in the division quarterfinals at Cape Girardeau, Mo. It was the 20th consecutive victory for Southeast Missouri, which improved to 30-3. Pomona finished at 22-9.

The Master’s lost, 92-85, to John Brown of Arkansas in the National Christian College Athletic Assn. men’s basketball tournament final Saturday at Cleveland, Tenn. The Mustangs finished at 22-12, setting a school record for victories in a season.

Four teams from the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. are ranked in the top 20 in the latest NCAA Division II baseball poll selected by Collegiate Baseball magazine. Conference favorite UC Riverside is No. 7, followed by Cal Poly Pomona at No. 9, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo at No. 13 and Cal State Dominguez Hills at No. 17.