He Hopes Major Leagues Will Still Be in the Cards : Division Change at Chapman Forces Briones to Rethink Options

The rumors began circulating early on the morning of March 4. A professor told a player, and the player ran across campus to find his teammates. When Chris Briones heard the news, he thought it too shocking, too devastating, too cruel to be true.

The others agreed. This couldn’t be happening, they said. Not now. But by early afternoon, it was official.

Chapman University had announced that its NCAA Division I baseball program, all of 18 games old at the time, would be dropped to Division III after the 1993 season.

Money wasn’t at issue, but competitiveness was. Chapman’s other sports, all competing at the Division II level, were taking a beating in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn., and university President James Doti wanted to level the playing field a bit.

In the end, it didn’t matter that Chapman was holding its own on the baseball diamond. (An 8-5 victory over UC Santa Barbara Tuesday improved the Panthers’ record to 23-11).

No matter the reason, the announcement stunned Briones.

Division I baseball was all about trips to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., national rankings and major league scouts lining the backstops; Division III seemed like the bush leagues.

“It was unbelievable,” Briones said. “It was like, ‘How could they be doing this?’

“The day before, everything’s perfect. I’m playing 20 minutes from my home. The team’s playing well. I’m doing well in school. For my first year, I’m doing incredible.”

Perhaps no one on Chapman’s 28-man roster stands to lose as much as Briones, a freshman catcher and designated hitter from Brea-Olinda High.

As a Times All-County selection with a .427 batting average last season, he had many options coming out of high school. But a chance to play a major role in Chapman’s first Division I baseball season seemed too good to pass up.

When Chapman Coach Mike Weathers gathered his players to deliver the official word before that afternoon’s game against Cal State Fullerton, Briones could only wonder what was next.

Weathers told his players they could keep their athletic scholarships for this season and next, but after that the school could only offer them academic scholarships. And if they accepted an academic scholarship they couldn’t play intercollegiate athletics, in accordance with NCAA Division III rules.

“Should I stay, or should I go?” Briones asked himself as he listened to Weathers.

Briones is no closer to an answer today than he was a month ago. Most likely, he’ll play one more season at Chapman, then transfer to a Division I school for his junior year. Later this month, Briones and Weathers will meet to discuss Briones’ options.

“He came here with the idea of playing three or four years and getting drafted,” Weathers said. “I’d like to see him back next year, but this probably affects him more than anybody else on the team.”

For now, Briones is content to take out his frustrations in the batter’s box; he is hitting .308 as the Panthers’ designated hitter.

This is simply a minor detour to the major leagues, he said.

Besides, Briones has faced a tougher obstacle in the past. His name is Will Clark and he plays first base for the San Francisco Giants.

When he was young, Briones’ uncle gave him a shoe box filled with 1963 Topps baseball cards, and a fascination with the sport began. Not long after moving to Orange County from Point Pleasant, N.J., at age 10, Briones began autograph hunting.

He hung around the Anaheim Stadium parking lot after games to collect signatures on a card, a bat, a glove, a program . . . anything. He followed team buses to local hotels, hoping to intercept a player heading for his room. “I’ve waited in hotel lobbies until 2 a.m. before,” Briones said.

It is one of the only things Briones pursued aggressively, according to his mother, Joan Baker. Baseball was an all-consuming passion. Before entering high school, Briones and his father, Henry Baker, constructed a batting cage in the family’s garage. One year during spring break, Briones and a few Brea High buddies saw 11 spring training games.

His bedroom quickly became stocked with memorabilia, including a collection of some 60,000 cards. But one autograph was missing--Clark’s.

Determined to get Clark’s signature, Briones arrived for a spring training game at 7:30 a.m., but Clark, who had arrived at 7, wouldn’t sign even though they were the only ones in the stadium. Briones couldn’t comprehend why.

Briones, accompanied by several dozen others, finally got Clark, who wasn’t happy about it, to sign later that day.

“He screamed, ‘Get away!’ Briones said. “He seemed like a jerk.”

If he could trade places with Clark, Briones promised he’d stand there and sign all day.

Though he remains bitterly disappointed, Briones isn’t about to give up his goal of becoming a major league player simply because Chapman’s administration has given up on Division I baseball.

“It builds character, I guess,” Briones said. “It just makes life a little more difficult. (It’s like saying) ‘Let’s see how you get around this and keep going.’ ”

Certainly, he hasn’t given up hopes of reaching the NCAA playoffs. It would be something of an upset, particularly since the Panthers are playing as an independent this season and would have to secure an at-large bid.

Still, they have beaten all of the local Division I teams they’ve faced this season. And with 17 regular-season games left, there’s still a chance.

“If we can beat Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State, USC--everyone around us . . . “ Briones said. “Bring on all the other schools.”

Indeed, the Chapman players have turned adversity into motivation. “We all said, ‘Let’s go out there and show Doti he made a mistake by doing this,” Briones said.

So far, Briones and the Panthers have stated their case loud and clear.