Bad Weather Throws Wet Blanket on Baseball Programs

Recent rains have been good for San Diego County, but baseball coaches--caught between a rock and a wet place--have ambivalent feelings about the “gift” from the heavens.

A stormy relationship? Almost every team in the county had two rainouts last week. A few coaches comment from the dugout:

--Mike Prosser, Mira Mesa: “The rain’s getting old. We’ve played two games in two weeks and had one practice. It’s definitely no good for baseball. Everybody’s probably staying the same, but we’re making mistakes we’re not generally making. I sympathize (for the drought). I know we need the water, but it’s got to the point now where it’s affecting us. When we go up to L.A., I don’t know how much the rain has affected them. I’m concerned that we’re not going to be able to keep pace with those teams.”

--Rudy Casciato, Poway: “No baseball coach likes the rain. You’re taking grounders in the gym and hitting Wiffle balls in the weight room and you interfere with everybody else. But it’s tough to be complaining about the rain when everybody else has been praying for it.”

--Jeff Meredith, Grossmont: “We don’t like (the rain). You don’t have any help getting the field ready--or very little help--with a large piece of property to prepare, and you have to be safe. Then, of course, you miss games and you miss practices. It hurts the pitchers more than anybody. The hitters, you kind of get in a groove (and) then you’re out of it because you haven’t seen a pitch and then you’re in a game on the only dry day. We need the rain real bad, but you wish it would rain on Sunday morning so it would be nice on Monday. The water situation is a little more important than high school baseball, but the kids miss out on the fun. We need it, so you kind of grin and bear it.”

--Steve Edwards, Mt. Carmel: “Most everybody’s in the same boat. We can make the games up, but it’s the practices you hate to lose. As a baseball coach, you look at it from two perspectives. With the drought, you like to see the rain. As a baseball coach, you wonder why this didn’t happen during basketball season. We never lost any games to rain during the winter season.”

Rain out II: The Mustang Relays track meet, traditionally the first full-squad invitational in the county, wasn’t exactly rained out Saturday, but it was canceled anyway because the San Dieguito track was reduced to mud.

So the only team that competed over the weekend was Castle Park, which took seven athletes to Saturday’s Bishop Amat Relays at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut.

Eric Bell, who has been offered a scholarship to USC, won the invitational 110-meter hurdles. He was electronically clocked at 14.70.

Sophomore Isaac Sanchez took first in the invitational 800 meters at 1:57.4 and second in the 1,500 meters in 4:07.0.

Also, the Trojans added yet another sprinter to the 100-meter derby, which will be the most hotly contested event at local invitationals and at the section meet. Sophomore Anthony Davis, who ran for the first time all season after straining a hamstring three weeks ago, finished fourth in 11.2.

Track II: Castle Park’s Davis will find out just where he stands in the county when he competes Saturday at the Mt. Carmel Invitational, annually the most competitive meet in the county.

The 100 meters is scheduled for 4 p.m. (the meet gets under way at noon) and features Riley Washington of Southwest, third last year at the state finals; Darnay Scott of Kearny, Teddy Lawrence of Morse and Scott Hammond of Lincoln. All are among the top sprinters in the state.

Trivia time: Phil Mickelsen, of USDHS and Arizona State, was the San Diego Section’s golfer of the year in 1987 and 1988. Who beat Mickelsen in the 1987 San Diego Section tournament?

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Mira Mesa’s baseball team, ranked third nationally in USA Today’s preseason poll, is deep. Earlier this season, the Marauders had four games in five days. For game 4 against San Dieguito, Coach Mike Prosser rested his starters and played his reserves at every field position--he did pinch-hit in spots with the regulars--and Mira Mesa scored a 10-5 victory, their fourth in a row.

Upper echelon: Three of the top four baseball teams in the county, No. 1 Mira Mesa, No. 2 Poway and No. 4 Mt. Carmel, are competing this week at the Upper Deck Classic in Orange County.

McTraveling man: San Pasqual’s Erik Meek competes Wednesday in the McDonald’s Capital Classic, a game that pits 10 all-stars from around the country against 10 of the best basketball players from Washington D.C. The game will be televised Sunday on ESPN. Meek, The Times player of the year, will spend six days in Washington. He met President Bush on Monday.

“The other neat thing is that the coach gets to go along,” San Pasqual Coach Tom Buck said. “Basically, it’s the second-best all-star game for seniors in the country, next to the McDonald’s East-West Game.”

Hold the mustard: San Diego has had its share of legendary high school baseball coaches, but how many have had a gourmet delight named after them?

At Hilltop High, where John Baumgarten is coach, the concession stand sells Baum Dogs for $1.50.

Add Baumgarten: When his team doesn’t make the section finals, he can normally be found during those games down the left field bleachers at USD’s Cunningham Stadium cooking . . . you got it . . . hot dogs.

Succession ends: Mt. Carmel’s Angie Cooper had been on a San Diego Section championship team for four consecutive sports seasons before the Sundevil girls’ basketball team lost in the finals to Poway. Cooper was on Mt. Carmel’s championship cross country, basketball and track teams last year and cross country team last fall.

Trivia answer: La Jolla junior Harry Rudolph won his second consecutive section title in 1987, beating Mickelsen by one stroke. The following year, Rudolph was second to Mickelsen in the section finals.