OCC’s Parker Relishes a Rejuvenation

Corey Parker can’t believe how fast the baseball season has gone for him at Orange Coast College.

Parker said it seems like just the other day that it was early February and he was about to start his sophomore season. Now, he is about to end it.

The main reason the season has gone so quickly is that Parker has had such a great time playing for the Pirates.

The left-handed first baseman is hitting .369 with 26 runs batted in, three home runs and 12 doubles. He recently had a 10-game streak during which he was nearly unstoppable. He had 21 hits in 39 at-bats with three home runs and nine doubles.

“I guess my concentration level was really high,” Parker said. “It was incredible how well I hit the ball. But things have gone well most of the season. I can’t believe it’s almost over.”

Parker came to Orange Coast last season from Foothill High School and hoped to play basketball as well as baseball. But he quickly learned that his basketball skills were not equal to most of those playing on the community college level.

But he didn’t find much success on the baseball field either.

He played in the outfield because first base was already filled by Rod McCall, who currently is in Cleveland’s minor league system. Parker got in 24 games and hit .254 with no home runs.

After the season, Parker decided he needed a break.

For the first time since before he was in Little League, Parker didn’t play on a summer team of any kind. He spent his time lifting weights, running and taking batting practice.

“The game had started to strangle him,” OCC Coach Mike Mayne said. “He needed the time off. He works really hard and he is a great kid, but he tries to do too much at times.”

Parker added about 15 pounds to his 165-pound frame from lifting weights.

“By the end of last season I was weak,” he said. “Now, I feel great. I’m happy I took the time off, the game had become nothing special any more. I was just showing up and that was about it.”

Parker spent the fall working out at OCC and with his older brother Stacy, who played at at UC Irvine from 1986-89. Stacy is currently playing in the Phillies’ minor league system, and Corey is being recruited by the Anteaters.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Parker said. “But summer is almost here again and I know that I plan to play somewhere.”

Fred Hoover, who coached baseball for 22 years at Golden West before stepping down after the 1988 season, will return to the school as the pitching coach this fall.

Hoover is currently the pitching coach at UC Irvine. He retired from Golden West in 1989, when he was replaced by Bert Villarreal. Hoover was the pitching coach at Cal State Fullerton for two seasons (1989-90) under longtime friend Larry Cochell.

Hoover took the Irvine job after Cochell resigned at Fullerton to take the head position at Oklahoma.

“It’s going to be great for us,” Villarreal said. “He keeps stressing to me that he wants to just handle the pitchers and the catchers and help with recruiting. He doesn’t want anything to do with being the head coach.”

Brian Walker, Saddleback’s first baseman, has gone on an impressive RBI streak of late to take over the team lead.

Walker has driven in at least two runs in each of the past five games to raise his season total to a team-high 32 and is hitting .402 (51 for 127) with eight doubles.

Walker, a left-handed hitting sophomore transfer from Loyola Marymount, has only struck out eight times in 142 at-bats.

Walker is impressive with the glove as well. He made no errors in his first 30 games, finally committing one Saturday when he let a pickoff throw get past him. He has one error in 199 chances for a fielding percentage of .995.

Community College Notes

Sam Lopez, the state champion wrestler at 118 pounds from Cypress, has signed a letter of intent to attend Fresno State beginning in the fall. Lopez, from Valencia High School, was 34-0 last season. As a freshman, he was 27-3 and finished third in the state. Lopez was a two-time all-American. . . . The Orange Empire Conference women’s tennis finals are at Fullerton and the men will play at Golden West. Both finals begin Thursday and continue though Saturday.