Last At-Bat for ‘Chief’ Memorable Even If the Final Score Was Not

One day during practice a couple of years back, Poly High’s Francisco Flores found a bird’s feather lying on the ground. Without thinking too much about it, Flores picked up the feather and stuck it in his baseball cap.

Since that day, Flores has been better known around his Pacoima neighborhood as “Chief.”

“Everyone just kinda picked it up from there,” Flores said. “Even the teachers call me that.”

Flores, a 6-foot-5, 255-pound first baseman, has come to strike fear in opposing pitchers.

But like most of Poly’s batters, Chief was no match for San Pedro left-hander Larry Cannon in the Parrots’ 6-3 loss in the City Section 4-A Division championship game Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium.

But when Poly rallied to score two runs in the top of the seventh to pull within 6-3, it was fear that prompted San Pedro Coach Jerry Lovarov to pull Cannon in favor of Jamie Smith with Flores stepping to the plate.

With Eric Diaz at second and two out, Flores singled into left-center field to send Diaz to third and keep the rally alive.

Although Orlando Chavarria struck out to end the game, Flores will never forget that his last high school at-bat ended on a positive note.

Frankie Medina, who went three for three, was the only batter to pick apart Cannon, who gave up seven hits in 6 2/3 innings.

Flores, who batted a team-high .456 in regular-season play with 10 doubles and 19 runs batted in, had one hit in three at-bats.

After popping up to the catcher in his first at-bat, Flores was hit with a curve to lead off the fourth.

With San Pedro leading, 5-1, in the fifth, Flores had a chance to get Poly back into the game.

With pinch-runner Luis Nunez at second and Diaz at first and two out, Flores ripped a line drive at first baseman Daniel O’Neill, who ducked under the liner and threw his glove above his head to make the catch.

Hard hitting has become commonplace for Flores, who was a two-year starter on the football team.

Flores was a starting offensive tackle when Poly won its first City title in 3-A Division football in 1990.