Banning’s Busby Big Attraction

Banning High pitcher Mike Busby has become a featured attraction among professional baseball scouts, who turn out in droves when the senior right-hander throws.

“Oh my God, they’re like flies out there,” Banning Coach Syl Saavedra said. “When we played Narbonne, there must have been 15. One guy had a camcorder with a (radar) gun attached.”

Busby put on a show for the scouts Friday as he pitched Banning to a 2-0 victory over previously unbeaten Narbonne in a meeting of Southern-Pacific Conference leaders. He allowed two hits, struck out seven and walked one.

For the season, Busby is 3-0 with an 0.50 earned-run average and has 36 strikeouts and only three walks in 27 innings pitched, a 12-to-1 ratio.

As for the scouts, Saavedra says Busby does a good job of handling the attention.

“To Mike, it’s getting to be old hat,” he said. “He’s accepting it pretty good.”

Banning leads the Pacific League with a 4-0 record and is 6-4 overall.

Gardena basketball standout Robin Kirksey, a 6-foot-6 forward, has narrowed his college choices to Loyola Marymount and Nevada Las Vegas. Kirksey visited Loyola last weekend and will take a recruiting trip to Las Vegas after the Runnin’ Rebels finish their season in the NCAA tournament.

The way things are going, there will be more new football coaches in the South Bay than returning ones next fall.

Add Rich Busia of Torrance and Jerry Campbell of St. Bernard to the growing list of coaches who have stepped down since the end of last season.

Busia, who coached Torrance to two league titles and a 35-47-1 record in eight seasons, has resigned to devote more time to his family. His wife, Lynn, is expecting twin boys in June. The school plans to name a new coach by the middle of April.

St. Bernard has named Tom Strickland to replace Campbell, who coached the Vikings for the past two seasons. Strickland formerly was the coach at Salesian High in East Los Angeles and Georgetown High in Texas and was an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at the University of San Diego, which no longer has football. He was St. Bernard’s offensive coordinator in 1989 under Campbell, who resigned to pursue coaching positions out of state.

Other coaches who have resigned since last season are Goy Casillas of Hawthorne, Steve Carnes of Leuzinger, John Black and Mark Knox of West Torrance and Orville Echols of Inglewood. In addition, Henry Pacheco of San Pedro was fired, Gene Vollnogle of Carson retired and Bill Judy of Palos Verdes and Tony Bantula of Miraleste were phased out by the consolidation of the district’s three high schools into Palos Verdes Peninsula High.

So far, it’s been a roller-coaster type of season for the Mira Costa boys’ volleyball team, the 1990 mythical national champion.

“At times we look unbeatable,” Coach Mike Cook said. “Other times, we look like we couldn’t win a game.”

Cook saw both characteristics when the Mustangs played Newport Harbor in a nonleague match March 14 at Mira Costa. After playing well in winning the first game, 15-7, Mira Costa lost the next three, including the fourth and deciding game, 15-1.

“We were rather embarrassed,” Cook said of his team’s disappearance in the fourth game. “It had to represent a low-water mark in Mira Costa volleyball annals.”

Cook was in better spirits last week after Mira Costa defeated Arcadia in a tough, five-game road match. The Mustangs improved to 4-2.

Off this week because of Easter break, Mira Costa will try to stay sharp with an alumni match at 7:30 tonight at school.

Contrary to reports, West Torrance’s volleyball team did not defeat the Mira Costa varsity earlier this month. The Warriors actually beat the Mira Costa junior varsity, which has represented the school in nonleague matches against Pioneer League teams. Mira Costa competes in the Ocean League.

West, however, reportedly has been boasting that it beat the Mira Costa varsity for the first time.

This has not sat well with Cook, who promises that West will see “the real” Mira Costa when the teams meet in the Redondo Tournament on April 27.

Notes

El Segundo, a member of Catholic athletic leagues since the fall of 1988, will again be grouped with public schools starting in the 1992-93 school year. El Segundo will rejoin the CIF’s Coastal area as a member of the Pioneer League. The other schools in the league are Torrance, South Torrance, West Torrance, North Torrance and Centennial. El Segundo, currently a member of the San Fernando Valley League in most sports, cited the expense of traveling to games as the main reason for returning to the Coastal area, which it left in 1988 because of the difficulty of competing against larger-enrollment public schools.

Urho Saari, the legendary El Segundo aquatics coach who died in December, will be honored at a rededication ceremony April 6 at the Urho Saari Swim Stadium in El Segundo. A luncheon, costing $20 per person, will follow at the Hacienda Hotel in El Segundo. The deadline for luncheon reservations is Wednesday. Reservations and information: Bill Dornblaser at (213) 322-1195. . . . North Torrance graduate Rick Rasnick has joined Utah’s football staff as an assistant coach for the offense. Rasnick, 31, had been the offensive coordinator for San Jose State.