Knighten Brightens Serra High’s Outlook : Baseball: Slugging center fielder has helped Cavaliers erase bitter memories of 1990 season.

One could call the turnaround of the Serra High baseball team from last season an awakening of dormant talent.

A year ago, the Cavaliers were on the losing end of a 42-0 rout by El Segundo and finished 6-16. This season, Serra is 9-8 overall and 6-3 in Camino Real League play, second to Bosco Tech (5-2).

On Wednesday, Serra continued to roll, defeating Pius X, 14-6.

The person most responsible for the Cavaliers’ improvement is Dwon Stanley Knighten Jr. The right-handed batting senior had three singles and a double against Pius X, a performance that Serra Coach Ron Ozaki described as “the usual.”

The four-for-four outing raised Knighten’s South Bay-leading batting average to .613 (38 for 62). Knighten also stole three bases, giving him 41, to lead area players.

“I’m proud of myself this season,” Knighten said. “But I can’t slack up. I don’t think about my stats when I’m playing. I just think about winning ball games.”

That kind of fiery attitude may be one of the biggest keys in the Cavaliers’ resurgence. Ozaki named Knighten captain of the team after last season and the Cavaliers have followed their leader.

“Dwon has taken the team captainship personally, and he is setting the tempo,” Ozaki said. “He’s the one guy on our team who will grab a guy by his shirt collars and get him going in the right direction.”

Knighten’s quickness has benefited him on the basepaths. He has been thrown out stealing only twice--both times by Miraleste catcher Jason Brown.

The 5-foot-9, 175-pound center fielder has run the 60-yard dash--the standard distance used by major league scouts for gauging speed--in 6.7 seconds.

Knighten’s father throws left-handed and often works with his son--who is nicknamed “Junebug”--on weekends to prepare him for batting against left-handers.

“He’s a very quick and heady runner, but he’s also extremely aggressive on the bases,” Ozaki said. “Dwon sets his mind on going on the pitcher’s first movement. Then he out and out uses his speed.”

Knighten bats in the No. 3 spot and has seven doubles and 19 runs batted in. He has hit safety in all of Serra’s games and has struck out only three times in 62 at-bats.

“This year, I’m a lot more relaxed at the plate,” Knighten said.

Miraleste Coach Ken Russell, whose team has split two games against Serra, says Knighten is one of the most impressive players he has seen.

“I think he’s a quality player,” Russell said. “I don’t think he’s somebody who is just having a great year. He hit the ball well both times against us and he’s doing a great job of stealing bases. From everything I’ve seen, he’s legitimate.”

Knighten and his father work on hitting in the batting cages at Home Run Park in Buena Park. Knighten works on his swing diligently, making a point to take several cuts a day before each game.

“Dwon is a classic line-drive hitter,” Ozaki said. “He can have two strikes on him and still hit the ball hard, where it’s pitched. He puts the ball in play and makes the other team play baseball.”

Shortstop Tim Trahan and Knighten anchor Serra’s defense, a strength of the team.

But with junior Eugene Davis (4-3) representing the Cavaliers’ only reliable pitcher, Serra often must rely on its offense.

Fortunately for Ozaki, Serra has the firepower, with what is probably the fastest lineup top-to-bottom in the Southern Section 2-A Division.

“This baseball team is lucky this year,” Knighten said. “We’re still young, but we have a lot of raw talent on the team. We’ve got every spot filled with a quality player.”

Serra’s leadoff hitter is left fielder Jermaine Ferguson (.390, 35 stolen bases). He bats in front of junior second baseman Mario Whitfield--a .528 hitter--and Knighten. In the No. 4 spot is senior third baseman Damon Terrell (.420).

“We’ve got to outrun and outhit the other teams,” Ozaki said. “That’s our way of winning. We don’t let the other guys take the bats out of our hands.”

Ozaki built this team from a group of 10 sophomores and four juniors, a unit that is using the bitter memories of numerous lopsided losses as a springboard.

Last season was so rough that Ozaki had a hard time finding teams that wanted to play Serra to fill out a nonleague schedule.

“I’m glad that happened now,” Ozaki said. “It had a positive effect. We knew that we couldn’t ever let that happen again, so it was more of a motivating force than a deterrent. We weeded out the players that weren’t committed to the program.”

The team also found the leader it needed in Knighten, a three-sport athlete who lettered for Serra’s football team as an all-league cornerback and was a backup guard on the basketball team.

“I boost their morale up,” Knighten said. “Last year, there were a lot of selfish ballplayers. This year, there’s more unity, less individuality. I always tell the players that we’re not out of the game until it’s over.”

In the swirl of this team effort, Knighten has caught the attention of some professional scouts as well as community college coaches.

“Dwon has really come into his own this year,” Ozaki said. “For three or four scouts, he might be a very well-kept secret. He might not be on a lot of scouting charts, but he may get drafted in a later round.”

Said Russell: “He hits the ball well enough and he has speed. I think he’s a potential draft pick somewhere down the line.”

Knighten, 17, indicated he would probably sign if drafted. But he also said he may use community college as a steppingstone to a four-year program.

“I’m sure of one thing,” Ozaki said. “Whoever gets Dwon Knighten is going to have the kind of scrappy ballplayer that they want.”