LOYOLA MARYMOUNT BASEBALL PREVIEW : New Coach Taps a Fountain of Youth : Lions: Jody Robinson, who took over team in September, has 15 freshman on 30-member squad. Loyola was picked to finish fourth in West Coast Conference.

With many of the best players gone from last year’s 38-22 squad, the Loyola Marymount baseball team appears to be entering a rebuilding season.

All-America shortstop Chris Gomez has transferred to Cal State Long Beach and pitcher Chad Dembisky, a 12-game winner, has enrolled at Cal State Fullerton.

The Lions also have a new coach, former Cal State Northridge assistant Jody Robinson, who must make do with a 30-member squad that has 15 freshmen and only four seniors.

Nationally, the Lions are not earning much respect. The only mention of Loyola in preseason polls is by Collegiate Baseball, which lists the Lions 53rd. Last season, when the Loyola finished second in the West Coast Conference, it was ranked as high as 10th.

A preseason poll of WCC coaches had the Lions finishing fourth, but Robinson isn’t paying much attention to the preseason prognosticators.

“The reason we’re not ranked is the guy who played shortstop (Gomez) is at Long Beach and our top pitcher (Dembisky) is at Fullerton,” Robinson said. “Basically, the rankings don’t mean anything. (The Lions) were ranked 10th last year, but what did they do? This year we’re not ranked, so we’ll see what we do.”

The lack of respect from pollsters hasn’t escaped notice of the players, though.

“I think we have a bunch of guys on this team that don’t really care much about those polls,” sophomore pitcher Shane Bowers said. “We can use that as an incentive to try harder. We can show people that we’re better than they think.”

Said freshman pitcher Brian Fitzgerald: “We’re out to prove a lot of people wrong. We were picked No. 4 in the league and as far as the national rankings go, we’re just laughing at that.”

Robinson is not accustomed to losing. In nine years as an assistant at NCAA Division I schools, including Fullerton, Illinois and Northridge, teams Robinson has been associated with have made the NCAA regionals eight times, including a national title at Fullerton in 1979. Those teams had an overall record of 399-152-3--a winning percentage of .723.

Robinson played at Fullerton in 1975 and 1976 and served as a graduate assistant in 1977, when former Loyola coach and current Long Beach Coach Dave Snow was an assistant.

But how long will it take Loyola to win?

“I don’t know if there’s really a timetable on that,” Robinson said. “But we think we can win this year.”

Robinson, who was hired in September after Smith resigned to become a scout with the Seattle Mariners, is optimistic despite having a roster dominated by underclassmen.

“We have a lot of freshmen and we only have about five players who played a lot last season,” he said. “It’s a different mix than I’m used to working with, but a lot of these players will be together for a while.”

Until the players develop, Robinson will rely on the experience of seniors such as catcher Gerardo Perez and outfielder Matt Marks.

Robinson also thinks the team benefited from what he called a “bonding camp” during the first week of practice on Jan. 6-12.

During the period, the team ate and slept at the school. He said they would usually work on defense and team-oriented drills in the mornings, hold batting practice and play intrasquad games in the afternoons and listen to lectures and guest speakers in the evening.

“I think because of the situation this season, we had to give them a better chance to get to know each other and work on building team chemistry,” Robinson said. “It wasn’t without a few guys getting on each other a little. But by the end of the week, they’d been through a lot of things together. The guys that were left at the end of the week earned their Loyola Marymount hats.”

Robinson likes his lineup.

“I do think we’ll be able to swing the bat, especially in the middle of our lineup,” he said. “Perez, (first baseman Andy) Napolitano and (designated hitter Darren) Sugiyama are all guys who know how to hit the baseball.”

Perez, an All-WCC selection when he batted .309 with 12 home runs and 58 runs batted in as a designated hitter last season, is the team’s most experienced position player.

Robinson also is looking for a big season from freshman outfielder Mike Seal, a former Irvine High standout who led the West team to the gold medal at the Olympic Festival last summer. In its preseason outlook, Baseball America selected Seal as WCC freshman of the year.

But the pitching will have to develop for the Lions to win. Untested players such as Bowers, senior R.J. Kirkland and freshmen Shawn Hammett and Fitzgerald will have to step forward. The 6-foot-6, 215-pound Bowers, who sat out last season because of an arm injury, will start the team’s opener at UC Irvine at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday.

“We think we have enough pitching for this league because it’s a three-game-a-week format,” Robinson said. “But we don’t have a true No. 1 starter yet. We have a lot of seconds and thirds, but we need somebody to step into that No. 1 role.”

Robinson said the Lions will have to remain healthy.

“Our No. 1 rule is that no one gets hurt,” he said. “We don’t have the depth to make up for many injuries. That’s what our conditioning program was for.”

As long as the Lions remain healthy, Perez says the Lions will be tough to beat.

“I can tell you one thing,” he said. “We mean business this season. I don’t really want to say much about it, but I think a lot of people will be in for a big surprise.”