El Dorado Is Loaded, Ready to Fire : The teams: Golden Hawks, with six starters returning from a team that finished 20-7, are perched atop the preseason poll.

The scouts were lined up three deep behind the backstop and about 400 fans showed up for El Dorado’s season opener against Ocean View Monday in the Loara baseball tournament.

Clearly, El Dorado is the center of attention entering the 1992 season and the top-ranked team in The Times’ preseason prep baseball poll.

Coach Steve Gullotti has six starters returning from a team that finished 20-7 last season. Three starters--Tyson DowDell, Brian Loyd and Shawn Holcomb--will be drawing more than their share of attention from college coaches and scouts.

DowDell, a senior who can play third base, first base, left field or pitch, was co-most valuable player of the Empire League with Esperanza’s Rich Hills last season after batting .400 and compiling an 8-1 pitching record.

Loyd, a sound defensive catcher, batted .363 with two homers and 17 runs batted in as a junior. Neither Loyd or DowDell has signed with a major college. DowDell has visited USC, UCLA and Cal State Fullerton. Loyd has visited Loyola Marymount, Pepperdine, Cal State Fullerton and UCLA.

But it was Holcomb who made a big impression in the opener. He hit two homers and also pitched three scoreless innings in a 5-2 victory over Ocean View.

“We limited a very good hitting team to six hits and two walks in 11 innings,” Gullotti said. “We didn’t play great defense (four errors), but we found a way to win.”

El Dorado’s starting lineup is sound, but Gullotti warns that it is paramount that starting pitchers DowDell and Holcomb remain healthy with an untested staff backing them.

“There was an atmosphere at Ocean View where there was the potential to feel a lot of pressure, and I thought we handled it well,” Gullotti said. “We were anxious to play and I don’t think anyone was nervous. Of course, he shouldn’t be nervous with six starters back.”

Instead, it could be opponents who get a shaky feeling facing El Dorado this season.

Here are the other teams in the preseason poll:

2. MATER DEI

What a way to start the season. Mater Dei had 22 hits and scored 24 runs in its opening game against Costa Mesa in the Newport Elks tournament. All that came with two of its top players, Billy Blanton and David Knuff, on the bench.

Blanton has a sore ankle but will start at shortstop and Knuff figures to start at second base once he recovers from the chicken pox.

All-American outfielder Cale Carter, who has signed with Stanford, is the leader of the Monarchs, who finished 13-12 last season.

Mater Dei’s pitching will be vastly improved. Last year, Coach Bob Ickes watched his team walk 12 batters in a game twice and made six pitching changes in both games. Rich Silva and Mike McDonald are the best hurlers.

3. TUSTIN

It’s hard to argue with Tustin’s record over the past three seasons. The Tillers, who were 20-9 in 1991, have won three consecutive Sea View League titles and have advanced to at least the semifinal round of the playoffs three times.

The beat goes on in ’92. Shortstop Zach Elliott and outfielder Brett Hardy, both two-year starters, form the nucleus of another strong team. Elliott batted .415 with 10 doubles and 21 RBIs; Hardy batted .391 with 22 RBIs.

“We have a good balance of returners who have a lot of experience in big games,” said Tustin Coach Vince Brown, who brings a career record of 118-45 into the season.

4. OCEAN VIEW

There’s very little difference between the county’s top-ranked team, El Dorado, and the fourth-ranked team, Ocean View, judging by the teams’ opening game in the Loara tournament. El Dorado won, 5-2, on a three-run homer in the 11th inning.

The Seahawks’ outfield trio of Rich Crowe, Steve Rivera and Micah Edwardson is among the best in the county. Crowe had 10 homers last year and Rivera stole 16 bases. Pitcher Seth Bartels is a poised veteran.

“We have tremendous offensive potential,” said Coach Steve Barrett, whose Seahawks finished 16-8 last season.

5. HUNTINGTON BEACH

Right-handers Jon Ward and Derek Glascoe form the best pitching combination in the county. The duo combined to shut out perennial power Lakewood, 1-0, in the first round of the Loara tournament.

“We know we’re not going to give up a lot of earned runs,” Huntington Beach Coach Mike Dodd said. “But our pitchers are not strikeout guys, they give up a lot of groundballs. So we’re going to have to play well defensively behind them.”

The Oilers, who were 12-13 last year, have two returning all-league players--first baseman Howie Clark and catcher Brian Feathers--in the infield. But the Oilers will need to get some run production from a suspect outfield.

6. EL TORO

Coach Dan DeLeon doesn’t try to hide his enthusiasm when he says, “We’re going to be very good. This is one of the best hitting teams we’ve had here.”

Third baseman Jason Santoro, a switch-hitting 195-pound senior, figures to be one of the best hitters in the county. Santoro has eight hits and five RBIs in the Chargers’ first two games. “He’s as good as any hitter I’ve coached,” DeLeon said.

Junior Mark VerWayne, 9-3 last year, has fully recovered from a back injury, but the second starting spot is a tossup between three players. El Toro, 18-12 in 1991, will compete in the most prestigious prep tournament in the nation, the Colonial Classic, April 11-18 in Orlando, Fla.

7. SANTIAGO

Santiago, which finished 21-7 last year and won its first outright Garden Grove League title in 22 years, returns six starters. Four of them--Enele Scanlan, Robert Jung, Jamie Estrada and Scott McGarrh--batted over. 300 last season.

“We won’t have any weak hitters in the lineup,” Santiago Coach Myron Pines said. “I thought we won last year because we played as a team, and we’ll need that same chemistry to be successful this season.”

Scanlan, one of the most versatile players in the county, led the team with 10 saves last year. Louis Perez figures to be the team’s best starter.

8. FOUNTAIN VALLEY

It will be difficult to match last year’s team (24-6) that set a school record for victories in a season because of the graduation of ace pitcher Derek Fahs. But this season, Fountain Valley should be better offensively.

Brian Ponchak and Rich Montgomery, who batted over .300 last year as sophomores, are bigger and stronger this season. Ponchak is also expected to be the team’s top pitcher after going 4-1 as the No. 2 starter behind Fahs.

Coach Ron LaRuffa should also get plenty of help from a talented crop of newcomers that includes pitcher Mark Gardner. Fountain Valley’s junior varsity and freshman teams won league titles in 1991.

9. IRVINE

A veteran infield, anchored by shortstop Chad Baker and third baseman Aron Garcia, should make Irvine tough to beat. Coach Bob Flint decided to give six pitchers an opportunity to compete for the starting positions in the Vaqueros’ opening two games.

“Ryan O’Toole, a tall, skinny right-hander, has a chance to be our best pitcher,” Flint said. “Then, we’ll probably go with a sophomore (Tommy Louie). You look at this team and you can see a good ballclub, but there’s that big question of who goes on the hill.”

Flint rates his infield and catcher Jason Minici as one of the best in the school’s history. “Our 1986 infield with Bob Hamelin at first was real good. This one rates right up there.”

Irvine was 16-11-1 last season.

10. CAPISTRANO VALLEY

While Coach Bob Zamora insists his team isn’t a top 10-caliber club based on its poor summer showing, it’s difficult to overlook the defending Southern Section Division 3-A champions. Capistrano Valley, which finished 21-10-1 last year, struggled to a 6-18 record during the summer as Zamora had to search to find replacements for graduated standouts Jonathan Petke, Brand Caso, Chris Lugo and Cade Gaspar.

Scott Patton, who had seven hits in the semifinal and championship games and was the winning pitcher at Anaheim Stadium, is the top returner. Patton was 7-4 as a junior with a .398 batting average. Ethan Wyckoff, who missed last season with an elbow injury, is still unable to pitch, but he had three hits and drove in four runs in the Cougars’ opener against Santa Ana.

“We’re playing well with a lot of unknown bandits,” Zamora said. Third baseman Brian Benner, who hits with power, is the best of the newcomers up from a junior varsity team that finished second in the league last year.

Other teams to watch: Canyon, Edison, Esperanza, Katella, Laguna Hills, La Quinta, Mission Viejo, Servite, Sunny Hills, Valencia.