DowDell Having Time of His Life Playing at USC : Baseball: El Dorado standout is getting the most out of his Olympic Festival experience, and making an impression at the plate as well.

If USC Coach Mike Gillespie has any intention of recruiting El Dorado High School’s Tyson DowDell, somebody should tell him not to waste any time visiting the senior’s house. Just send a note with a letter of intent inside.

DowDell will have it signed and in the overnight mail an hour after it arrives. Heck, he might even hand-deliver it.

It appears DowDell, an infielder/pitcher with the Olympic Festival West squad, is enjoying his stay at USC.

“Oh man, this is a dream come true,” he said Wednesday, sitting in the bleachers at Dedeaux Field, waving his arm toward the outfield fence. “I mean, look at this park. It’s great.

“And I love this campus. The dorm we’re staying in is incredible. It’s called Pardee Hall. We call it Party Hall. Could you imagine living in a place called Party Hall? We have killer Ping Pong games every day. The competition is as intense as it is out here.”

Obviously, DowDell, the only junior on last season’s Times All-County first team, is more than a little pumped up for this Festival.

Maybe a little too pumped up.

DowDell, a 17-year-old from Placentia, got his first hit of the Festival in Tuesday night’s 15-10 victory over the East. But he wasn’t supposed to.

In the fourth inning with runners on first and second and no outs, DowDell missed a bunt sign and grounded a single into right field. The West scored four times in the inning, but when DowDell returned to the dugout, he was greeted with a chorus of laughs.

“Everybody was yelling, ‘Nice bunt,’ ” DowDell said, managing a sheepish smile. “Thank goodness I got a hit.”

Hits have always come pretty easily for the 6-foot-4, 200-pounder who was the main power source for El Dorado last season. He hit five home runs, drove in 25 runs, hit .397 and scored 29 times to earn co-MVP honors in the Empire League. But he also was 8-1 with a 1.90 earned-run average as a pitcher.

Most coaches and scouts say DowDell, who plays third and first base, will carve his niche as a position player, mostly because of his prowess with the bat. But DowDell hopes he won’t have to choose when he plays college ball.

“I would love to be able to do both in college,” he said. “I guess most people tell me I’ll make it with my bat, but I love to pitch.”

Given his size, you’d figure that DowDell would be the quintessential power pitcher, his huge stride taking him halfway to home before unleashing a wicked fastball. He says he does have a strong arm, but doesn’t show it off much at El Dorado because of the team’s pitching philosophy.

“We start hitters off with changeups and curves and use our fastball as the change-of-speed pitch,” he said. “Most high school hitters are fastball hitters and even if you get them 0-2 on fastballs, then they know the curve is coming next. It works.”

DowDell, whose West squad played the South late Wednesday night, didn’t get the opportunity to pitch in the first game even though the West used five pitchers in the 10-inning game.

But nothing, it seems, could ruin this Festival experience for him. Clearly, he’s floating, but there are even greater heights to achieve. He hopes to be selected to the 18-member junior national team that will compete in Canada later this month.

“Now that would be a dream come true,” he said. “But there’s 64 guys here who all want to go, and they all can mash and they all have great arms. To make that team would be a great honor.”

If he doesn’t make the junior national team, DowDell will concentrate on helping his Connie Mack team, the Orange County Cardinals, stay in first place and then focus on knocking off Empire League champion Esperanza next year. Esperanza, rated as No. 1 in the nation early last season, dropped two of three games to El Dorado.

DowDell was the winning pitcher in the first El Dorado victory and he took the defeat--his only loss of the season--in the second game when Esperanza scored six runs, all of which were unearned.

“They lost a lot of people and we’ve got some real good players coming back,” he said. “We’ll get ‘em next year.”

And after that, maybe DowDell will find himself back at Dedeaux Field.

“Oh yeah,” he said, nodding. “I’d love to play here.”