Balanced San Pedro Making a Run at Pacific League Title

In a preseason poll, San Pedro High baseball Coach Jerry Lovarov ranked his team third in the Pacific League behind Banning and Carson.

With only two starters returning, Lovarov felt the Pirates lacked the experience needed to wrest the league title from two-time defending champion Banning, which also returned a meager two starters.

San Pedro’s younger players, Lovarov said, would have to come through.

So far, they have.

San Pedro (13-2) leads the Pacific League with a 10-0 record heading into what might be its most important series of the season. The Pirates meet Banning (9-6), tied for second place with Carson at 7-2, in 3 p.m. games Monday at San Pedro and Wednesday at Banning.

Banning has won three of the past four league titles, but San Pedro appears to have the most balance this season. Banning boasts the league’s best pitcher but has an erratic offense. Carson has a good group of hitters but shaky pitching. San Pedro can pitch and hit.

Did we say hit? In 8-3 and 24-3 victories over Gardena this week, the Pirates had 33 hits, including 21 in Wednesday’s 24-run explosion.

Sam Razevich, San Pedro’s No. 9 batter, capped an impressive week by going three for five Wednesday with four runs scored and four runs batted in. In the two games, the junior left fielder had four hits in six at-bats, seven runs scored and five RBIs.

Senior catcher Jose Duarte, one of two starters back from last season, also had a big week, driving in five runs. San Pedro’s other returning starter, senior third baseman Luis Montes De Oca, had three hits in Wednesday’s game.

Pitching-wise, junior left-hander Larry Cannon (4-1) provided the highlight by throwing a three-hitter Wednesday.

The Pirates figure to need a well-pitched game Monday at home. Banning is expected to start junior left-hander Carlos Garibay, who is 7-1 with an 0.97 earned-run average and 52 strikeouts in 50 2/3 innings.

Banning is 7-0 in games that Garibay has been the starting pitcher. His only loss was in relief.

Chris White, the former Leuzinger sophomore football coach who has accused the school of illegal recruiting and playing ineligible athletes, said he will file a written complaint on Monday.

White said he will deliver his complaint, listing several alleged rules violations, to Leuzinger Principal Derek Harrison. Copies will be mailed to Southern Section Commissioner Stan Thomas and other principals of Bay League schools.

“I’ve got the information,” White said Saturday.

White met with Harrison on Monday to detail his allegations that former Leuzinger varsity coach Tom Jessee ordered White to recruit football players who lived in Inglewood and that Athletic Director Steve Carnes had knowledge of ineligible athletes who played varsity football for Leuzinger.

White also alleges that a physical education teacher changed the grade of a sophomore football player to allow him to play.

Carnes and Jessee have denied the charges.

“It’s the case of a walk-on football coach who doesn’t see the whole picture,” Carnes said. “He doesn’t understand the whole school process.”

Said Jessee: “It’s a personal attack. Somehow (White) is offended and he is going to do whatever he can to discredit me and the school.”

Jessee reportedly fired White in December, but White contends that he was never officially fired by the school. Jessee and White both said they engaged in several disagreements last season, with the coaches almost coming to blows on more than one occasion. Jessee was forced to resign after the season.

White’s allegations against Leuzinger came two weeks after Hawthorne and Leuzinger brought charges against Inglewood for illegal recruiting and using ineligible athletes. The Southern Section Executive Committee is scheduled to meet May 21 in Cerritos to hear the allegations against Inglewood.

If found guilty of rules violations, Inglewood’s football program could be placed on probation by the Southern Section.

As starters at wide receiver and tailback, Mark Batiste and Shayzar Hawkins played big roles in helping Banning’s football team reach the City Section 4-A Division title game last fall.

Friday, the two seniors combined for five individual victories to help the Pilots’ track team improve to 7-0 in the Southern Pacific Conference with a 101-28 dual-meet triumph over Narbonne at Banning.

Batiste won the 110-meter high hurdles in 16.4 seconds, the 300 intermediate hurdles in 43.4 and the triple jump with a mark of 45 feet 11 inches.

Hawkins, the City 4-A co-player of the year in football, won the 100-yard dash in 10.2 seconds and the 200 meters in 23.2.

Torrance catcher Jason Kendall, who was hitless for only the third game in his three-year varsity career Wednesday, returned to form Friday by collecting three hits in four at-bats and driving in four runs in a 9-2 Pioneer League victory over host Centennial.

Kendall had no hits in a 4-1 victory over Centennial on Wednesday, the day after ESPN was scheduled to televise a segment on Kendall as part of a program on baseball-playing sons of former major leaguers. Kendall’s father, Fred, had a 12-year major league career, mostly with the San Diego Padres.

Torrance (10-7) and West Torrance (14-5), which beat North Torrance twice this week, remained tied for first place in the Pioneer League with 7-1 records. They meet May 6 and 8.

Hawthorne’s track program was well-represented at the prestigious Mt. San Antonio College Relays last week, not only in the high school portion of the meet but in the open division as well.

“It was an alumni reunion,” said Hawthorne Coach Kye Courtney.

Among the former Cougars who competed were Michael Marsh, who beat Carl Lewis to win the 100 meters in 9.93 seconds; quarter-miler Sean Kelly, long jumper Michael Graham and sprinters Curtis Conway and Travis Hannah, who ran for USC.

Speaking of alumni, Mira Costa graduates played a big part in the NCAA men’s volleyball season, which concluded Saturday night.

Three former Mustangs earned All-America honors: sophomore setter Canyon Ceman of Stanford (first team), senior outside hitter Eric Fonoimoana of UC Santa Barbara (second team) and junior setter Jason Stimpfig of Cal State Long Beach (second team).

Other former Mira Costa standouts who started for major college programs included David Swatik of UCLA, Pat Ivie of USC and Zach Small of Long Beach.