Openings Rare for Prep Closers : Few Teams Have Enough Quality Pitchers to Be Able to Develop a Relief Specialist

Of the differences in strategy between high school baseball and the game played at the major league level, the role of the closer--the relief pitcher called on to preserve the victory--is among the biggest.

Pitchers usually are thrust into a relief role in high school simply because they are not good enough to be a starter. Rare is the team that can afford to hold out a dominant pitcher until the late innings.

Yet, the task of protecting a lead is the same in any ballgame: Take the ball, take the mound. Take charge during the late innings. Throw hard, throw strikes. Get the out and get the save.

For a few high school teams, the closer’s role is as important as the No. 1 starter’s, and as clearly established from the season’s first pitch.

“The relief pitcher--the closer--is a critical player in our program,” San Fernando Coach Steve Marden said. “Not just in terms of the number of pitches or innings pitched but as to the outcome of the season. We try to establish that role at the beginning of the season--if we have a young man who has the physical and emotional capabilities to fill that role.”

Marden proved his point last season when he repeatedly summoned sophomore right-hander Ray Rivera when things were rotten. And Rivera closed door after door.

Rivera finished all four of San Fernando’s playoff games, recording one save and earning the win in the Tigers’ 3-2 victory over Banning at Dodger Stadium in the City Section 4-A Division championship game.

For the season, Rivera was 3-1 while appearing in 16 games. He recorded four saves, sharing area-high honors with three others.

“I liked the pressure situations,” said Rivera, who will be a starter this season. “It took guts. Bases loaded. Nobody out. I was good enough to be a starter, but, personally, I felt like being a closer was my job. I realized that this was a job that had to be done for the team.”

Coaches use early-season tournaments and nonleague games to determine which of their pitchers--if any--have the stuff to be closers.

Marden has narrowed the field to three right-handers: juniors John Romero and John Robert, and sophomore Tony Cabrera. Romero, Marden said, is the early favorite.

“The length of time we’ll stay with a starter,” Marden said, “is often the direct result of the quality of our closer.”

At Simi Valley, Coach Mike Scyphers likely will have one of the region’s best pitching staffs with senior left-hander Chris Delvin, junior right-hander Bill Treadway and sophomore right-hander Bill Scheffels, a 6-foot-3, 195-pound transfer from Alemany, vying for starting roles. Junior right-handers Kevin Nykoluk and Trevor Leppard are the closer candidates.

“Usually, a guy emerges who will be the closer,” Scyphers said. “We play so many games early, it’s easy to find out who it will be. We’re not going to hesitate going to a closer after the sixth inning.”

But is a specialist needed at this level?

Consider: High school games are scheduled for seven innings, and teams typically play only 14 innings a week. However, state rules limit a pitcher to 10 innings per week.

The best two pitchers, almost without exception, are used as starters, and each is afforded the luxury of a one-week rest between starts. For the most part, they are expected to finish what they start.

“Ideally, if you have two good starters, you can get by with two starters and a decent spot reliever,” Saugus Coach Doug Worley said.

Crescenta Valley Coach Tony Zarrillo said that having a closer “can be a great morale booster.” But seldom do teams have the depth to give the job to one candidate. “Then you have to look to your other starter in a game where he doesn’t start,” Zarrillo said.

That is a common practice. If a situation requires pitching to only one batter, or just one inning of work, why not give the job to the best available pitcher, usually the other starter?

“I don’t think that in high school you need to depend so much on a reliever,” said Crespi Coach Scott Muckey, whose team is ranked first in the region by The Times. “It’s nice to have one, but the thing is, if you have two good starters, the reliever isn’t going to get enough work (to be effective). If the game were nine innings, it would be a different story.”

Former Chatsworth High Coach Bob Lofrano, now coach at Pierce College, said he has discovered that making late-inning pitching substitutions in nine-inning games is the biggest difference between coaching high school and college baseball. Rarely in his 10 years (1980-89) at Chatsworth, Lofrano said, did he need to rely on a reliever.

“At the high school level, if you were a senior and you had (experience), you were a starter,” Lofrano said. “And if you have a guy with good ability, you want to go with him from the start.”

Of course, there are exceptions, and both Muckey and Lofrano made them.

Two years ago, Muckey routinely used senior right-hander Pat Bennett as a closer, although Bennett was the staff’s ace. Bennett made 19 appearances and finished 10-1 with an 0.90 earned-run average and one save.

This season, as a closer at UC Santa Barbara, Bennett has three saves. His role at Crespi, Bennett said, was a confidence builder.

“It made me persevere,” Bennett said. “Usually, it was a tough situation, and I had to bear down and say, ‘Hey, I’m it. We’re going to win or lose with my performance.’ ”

More memorable, perhaps, is the role of Chatsworth’s Derek Wallace in 1988. Wallace, now a junior at Pepperdine and a starting pitcher, was used exclusively as a closer and was 7-0 with eight saves and a 1.33 ERA in 42 innings.

“That was a special season in that we had a third pitcher who was very, very good,” Lofrano said. “I was quicker with the hook when Derek was ready to throw.”

Chatsworth spent most of that season ranked No. 1 in the nation by USA Today and won the championship of the Colonial Baseball tournament in Orlando, Fla. Wallace recorded two saves and a victory and was selected the tournament’s most valuable player.

“It was always fun to come in at the end when the game was on my back,” said Wallace, who is 2-2 with 3.63 ERA for the Waves this season. “That was the best part about it. I had to throw a lot of fastballs and it helped me develop.”

For the most part, being a reliever is an opportunity for young pitchers to prove they can throw while holding aspirations of becoming a starter.

Wallace, who became Chatsworth’s No. 1 starter his senior year, has developed into one of the nation’s best college pitchers. In 1985, Simi Valley’s Scott Radinsky, now with the Chicago White Sox, emerged as a surprise closer for the Pioneers during his junior season, then became a starter as a senior.

“At that time, Radinsky was more of an unknown and his role came about because we didn’t know what to do with him,” Scyphers said. “But any trouble at all and we wouldn’t hesitate going to him. He’d come in and get six, seven strikeouts in a row.”

Nykoluk, who will start in center field for the Pioneers, said he will adjust to the pitching role expected of him.

“I’d rather be a starter,” Nykoluk said. “But I’m a position player, so I’m just there if they need me.”

Rarely, Scyphers said, is one of the team’s starters summoned for relief duty. As far as Scyphers is concerned, starters start, relievers relieve.

“I don’t like to bring in a guy who traditionally is a starter when the game is on the line because he’s not used to doing that,” Scyphers said. “That way, we mold the kid into believing that this will be his situation.

“A lot of times, they’re out their champing at the bit, hoping the bases get loaded so they can come in and pitch.”

Muckey said Crespi will rely on the strength of its starters. Senior Phillip Aghajanian, and juniors Jeff Suppan and Keith Evans--all right-handers--will form a three-man rotation and likely take turns in relief.

If a closer does emerge, it will be either senior right-hander Victor Seper or junior right-hander Jorvic Salazar.

However, Muckey said, neither should hold his breath in the bullpen.

“You don’t necessarily need a closer,” Muckey said. “Just someone who can close.”