HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL / SOUTHERN SECTION PREVIEWS : FREELANCE TEAMS

Highland

COACH: Mike Van Cheri, 1st season

LAST SEASON: Did not field a varsity team

PLAYERS TO WATCH: This is Highland’s first varsity season after two years of competition at lower levels. The school opened with only freshmen in the fall of 1989 and will not have a senior class until next school year. Van Cheri left his varsity coaching position at Antelope Valley High after the 1990 season to take over at Highland for one simple reason. “I always wanted to build a program from scratch,” he said. Junior right-handers Jim Reel (3-2, 3.58 earned-run average) and Andy Hoggatt (6-1, 3.91) are the Bulldogs’ top returning pitchers. Reel batted .490 with 15 runs batted in as the cleanup hitter. Sophomore A.J. Wilson and juniors Ladd Stilson and Tom King also will help out with pitching duties. Junior Jeff Tepper (.491, 27 RBIs, six doubles, four home runs) returns at catcher. Reel will play first base when not pitching, and junior Tim Pennell and sophomore Sean Riley will fill in when Reel is pitching. Junior Joe Astone (.405) returns at second. King (.421) will share shortstop duties with Wilson, and junior Tony Pulido will start at third. Junior Bryce Montoya (.367) will bat leadoff and start in left field. “He’s our spark plug. We plan on doing a lot of running with him,” Van Cheri said. John Bailey (.341) will play center and Hoggatt (.362) will play right.

OUTLOOK: Last season the Bulldogs batted .404 as a team against a mix of varsity and junior varsity teams from small schools. “If we hit .300 as a team this year, I’d be happy,” Van Cheri said. “Our hitting is our strength. We can definitely hit the ball and score.”

Littlerock

COACH: Maury Cauchon, 1st season

LAST SEASON: Did not field a varsity team

PLAYERS TO WATCH: Littlerock opened the same year as Highland and also enters its inaugural varsity season. Cauchon has been with the same players for two seasons, which should be a big plus when Highland and Littlerock enter the Golden League next season. Cauchon’s pitching staff is five players deep, but they are young. Junior right-hander David Anderson, who threw a no-hitter last season, is the lone returning starting pitcher. Helping Anderson is a quartet of right-handers: junior Patrick Diehl, sophomores Robert Reed and Aaron Scobie, and freshman Patrick Leach, whose father is the junior varsity coach. Junior Chris Cheek and sophomore Chris Towery probably will share catching duties. Juniors Lucas Arnold and Jeff Santiago have played side by side for the past two seasons at first and second base. Anderson and Leach will be platooned at third and Manuel Gonzalez will bat leadoff and start at shortstop. Junior Raul Rosete will move from left to center field. Sonny Tuft will start in right field and Robert Mauriquez, a junior transfer from Alemany, will play left.

OUTLOOK: Cauchon is making no predictions. “We don’t have any seniors, so our juniors are like seniors, but they really aren’t,” he said. “That one year makes a big difference.”