HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL PLAYOFFS : This Battery Powers El Segundo’s Charge : Preps: Playoffs could be the last hurrah for Eagle catcher Poor and pitcher Gangawere, who have played together since they were 10.

“If I had a chance to play against a team I’d never seen before but with a pitcher I’d caught 50 times, I’d much rather have that than play against a team I’d played 50 times but with a pitcher I didn’t know at all.”

--Milt May, former major league catcher

Few other duos in sports enjoy as unique a relationship as a pitcher and catcher. They are involved on every pitch, making it important that they think alike.

El Segundo High’s senior battery of pitcher Matt Gangawere and catcher Jeff Poor have benefited from growing up in a small-town atmosphere and playing together since they were 10 years old.

That relationship has paid off in big ways for El Segundo (26-2), which opens the Southern Section 3-A Division playoffs at 3 p.m. Friday against Canyon of Canyon Country (10-13) at Recreation Park in El Segundo. The Eagles are seeded No. 1.

Poor already has impressed professional scouts with his .427 batting average, five home runs, 30 runs batted in and strong arm.

Gangawere, a 6-foot-3, 185-pound right-hander, has an 11-0 record and two-year varsity record of 21-1. Including American Legion play last summer, he is 29-2 since his junior season.

But unlike Poor, Gangawere is less interested in pursuing a baseball career and more passionate about becoming a firefighter.

Poor and Gangawere first met playing Little League in El Segundo. They have come to know each others’ playing mannerisms so well that they almost think as one person on the field.

“Jeff told me it’s great catching (Gangawere) because he just puts the ball where he calls for it, whereas some others aren’t necessarily hitting the spots he calls for,” El Segundo assistant Craig Cousins said. “That really makes it a joy to catch a pitcher like that.”

Gangawere has confidence in Poor’s ability to call the pitches.

“He’s an awesome catcher, I have no complaints,” Gangawere said. “We’ve been together since we were little kids. He knows what to call and he knows how I throw better than I do.”

Poor said his confidence in Gangawere to hit the proper spot makes his job of setting up the batter much easier.

El Segundo Coach John Stevenson allows his catchers to call the pitches. Because of that responsibility, Stevenson makes it a priority to put the best athlete available at catcher.

“We’ve always had good catchers and it was not by accident,” Stevenson said. “We’ve taken shortstops and third basemen in the past and put them back there. But we didn’t have to do that with Jeff. He already played the position.

“We do not call pitches, we try to play every game in under two hours so things move quickly. It helps the catcher develop and it helps the pitcher develop.”

The 6-1, 195-pound Poor has signed a letter of intent to attend Texas, but he has not ruled out the possibility of playing professionally if the money is right.

“He’s just got to take the progressive steps each place he goes,” Cousins said. “At each stop along the way you have to improve. Playing for money is a much harder thing to do, and even if he goes to college he’s still playing for money with a scholarship. He’ll have to do more than he’s doing here, and at the next step after that he’ll have to do it again.”

Because Poor used a wooden bat in summer league baseball, Cousins said he should not have to make a major adjustment to play professionally. Cousins said Poor will do well because he can hit a curveball.

Catching is a demanding position and Poor has had his share of bumps, bruises and damaged fingers.

“(Poor) has a very good future,” Stevenson said. “He just wants to play baseball; that’s a very high priority, the highest. He’s young with very good hands, a strong arm and all the essentials.”

Gangawere symbolizes a motto that Stevenson often tells his players: “Keep on playing until somebody comes up to you and tells you, ‘You can’t play anymore.’ ”

Although he is unbeaten with a 1.43 earned-run average, Gangawere hasn’t attracted much attention from professional scouts because he is not a power pitcher.

“I don’t throw 90 miles an hour, so when I’m on I want to make them pop up and ground out,” Gangawere said. “I try to keep my total number of pitches down to 10 per inning.”

Gangawere plans to attend a community college in the fall and begin study for a degree in fire science. He has yet to decide on a school.

“I’d really like to go away to school, but on the other hand some of the best junior college baseball teams are here in Southern California,” he said.