Summer Baseball : NATIONAL BASEBALL CONGRESS : Astro ‘Comeback Kid’ Making a Pitch for Larger College Role

The inning stands out in the mind of Jeff Bodeau because the competition from other memorable collegiate innings is slim and none.

In fact, there are none at all--memorable or otherwise.

In the spring of 1990, while playing for Cal State Los Angeles, Bodeau threw a perfect inning of relief in a game against Cal State Northridge.

“It went one, two, three,” Bodeau recalled.

The rest of his career has not fallen into place quite as neatly. In this case, the inning was the inning, the only inning, and it has left him pining for more.

Bodeau, a 1988 graduate of Saugus High, accepts his meager statistics in his only college outing with equal parts magnanimity and enmity.

“That’s just the way it’s always gone,” Bodeau said with a sigh.

He has taken steps toward changing his luck. Playing this summer with the Woodland Hills Astros, Bodeau (5-foot-10, 190 pounds) has emerged as the staff stalwart, which marks a major departure from the norm.

Bodeau’s right arm was in demand last week in the Santa Maria tournament, in which he was the winning pitcher in three of the Astros’ four victories. Woodland Hills, a third-year team composed of college-age players from the greater San Fernando Valley area, finished second in the tournament and earned its first berth in the National Baseball Congress World Series, to be held Aug. 2-18 in Wichita, Kan.

The emergence of Bodeau would come as a surprise to some--particularly his former college coaches.

In 1989, Bodeau said that a back injury kept him from playing as a freshman at College of the Canyons. The following year, he enrolled in electrical-engineering courses at Cal State L. A. and also joined the baseball team, where he had his inning in the limelight. In what surely came as a shock to the system, Bodeau said he wasn’t invited back for 1991.

“I don’t know why it happened,” said Bodeau, who did not play college ball this past spring. “I asked them, but I really didn’t get much of an answer.”

Perhaps he should have expected it. Bodeau’s first experience as second banana came as a senior at Saugus. His teammate, a junior by the name of Roger Salkeld, had the salivary glands of every major league scout working overtime. The following year Salkeld was the third player chosen in the June amateur draft.

However, statistics show that Bodeau and Salkeld were not far apart. Salkeld (8-3, 1.40) and Bodeau (6-4, 1.83) finished fourth and fifth in the area in earned-run average. Salkeld struck out 126 in 75 innings, Bodeau 92 in 69.

“The numbers were pretty close,” said Bodeau, who reportedly throws in the mid-80 m.p.h. range. “Look it up.”

With college experience basically nil, Bodeau has pitched for the past three years with an area semipro team organized by George Genovese, a local pro scout. During that span, he also has played for the Astros.

“In my view, he can definitely help a team,” Astros Coach Howie Shwartzer said. “He has moxie, he has intestinal fortitude.”

It took more than guts in the Santa Maria tournament. It took an arm that was, well, well-rested. Shwartzer has termed Bodeau his “go-to guy.” In Santa Maria, Bodeau went three times.

In a first-round game June 30, Bodeau started and allowed three earned runs in a 6-4 victory over Cypress. Two days later, he threw 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief as the Astros defeated Santa Barbara, 12-11, in 10 innings. On July 3, Bodeau pitched the final 2 2/3 innings, allowing one unearned run, as Woodland Hills defeated Santa Maria, 5-3.

Call him the “Comeback Kid.”

“Bodeau is the kind of kid who can go nine innings and come right back,” said Shwartzer, whose team is 17-8 overall. “Most kids won’t do that.”

On a team that is well-represented with NCAA Division I players, nobody has outpitched Bodeau, who has two years of college eligibility remaining. Other Astro pitchers include Mike Eby (Westlake High, now at UCLA), Bob Kazmirski (Agoura High, Fresno State), Eric Spellman (Royal High, Northridge) and John Bushart (Thousand Oaks High, Northridge).

This summer, Bodeau is 6-0 with an ERA of 1.27. In 35 1/3 innings, he has allowed 32 hits, struck out 24 and walked eight.

“There’s been a lot of hard work,” said Bodeau, who has been studying privately under former major league pitcher Geoff Zahn. “I guess it’s finally time that it happened.”

Bodeau admits he would dearly love for something else to happen. He would like to again play in college, or professionally. Meanwhile, he has enrolled at Northridge and plans to continue his electrical-engineering studies. His path to college appears to be anything but a short-circuit.

“I know the guy can play,” Shwartzer said. “And I know he keeps getting better.”

Better yet, the kid with one inning of college experience would like one more chance.

Just one.