El Segundo, West Torrance Battle in True Pioneer Spirit : Baseball: Future league rivals are neck-and-neck in race for American Legion-Pacific League title.

The El Segundo High and West Torrance baseball teams could be providing a preview of the 1993 Pioneer League race.

El Segundo, which will join the league next season, and West Torrance are currently battling for the American Legion Bay-Pacific League title.

With league play scheduled to conclude Sunday, West leads the Bay-Pacific standings with an 8-1 record and is 17-1 overall, its only loss coming against North Torrance, 4-3. West finishes league play at Peninsula No. 1 Saturday and is at Banning Sunday.

El Segundo (23-5, 6-1) has four games remaining. El Segundo, which finishes its regular season Saturday against Peninsula No. 2, has lost only to West, 4-3.

As of Sunday, Peninsula’s No. 1 team was in third place with a 5-3 record and Redondo was fourth.

The top four teams in the league will compete in the area tournament at Blair Field in Long Beach July 25-30. The winner will advance to the state tournament in Yountville.

West and El Segundo will battle for the top seeding in the area tournament this weekend.

West Coach Harry Jenkins, who formerly coached at Redondo, said he is accustomed to battling El Segundo for the top spot.

“When I was at Redondo, we (and El Segundo) always seemed to find each other (at the top) in league,” Jenkins said. “In 1987 and ’88 we were fighting for the league championship. I’m glad (El Segundo) is coming into the league. We had a great rivalry when I was at Redondo and I hope it keeps going next year.”

Joe Intermill and Derek Nicholson have been the Warrior offensive leaders. Intermill leads the team in batting with a .550 average and Nicholson is at .500.

Mike Myro (4-1) and Josh Bendick (3-0) have been the pitching leaders.

“We’ve been playing very well,” Jenkins said. “We’ve been getting some big innings offensively. It’s just a combination of steady pitching and hitting the ball well.”

El Segundo Coach John Stevenson, who annually takes his American Legion team on the road for tournaments, has guided El Segundo to championships at Whitefish and Miles City, Mont.

El Segundo went 6-0 at the Whitefish tournament. Catcher Jeff Poor, who will attend the University of Texas in the fall, and center fielder Chris Feeny were chosen to the all-tournament team.

Poor also won most-valuable-player honors after getting eight hits in 14 at-bats and driving in 12 runs. Feeny was selected the top offensive player after getting nine hits in 17 at-bats and driving in eight runs.

Pitcher Ted Silva, a recent Redondo graduate, won the final two games of the tournament. He came on in relief in a 4-3 semifinal victory over Coeur d’Alene, Ida., and pitched seven innings in a 2-1 victory over Wenatchee, Wash., in the final.

Stevenson said the tournament was a real test because of the weather.

“It rained every day,” Stevenson said. “There was a lot of mental toughness involved because some of our games were played at 2 a.m. and then we had to get up and play in the morning.”

In last week’s eight-team tournament at Miles City, El Segundo finished 5-2. Poor was seven for 19 with five runs batted in, Feeny was 14 for 26 with six RBIs and Lawrence Norris was nine for 24 with seven RBIs. Each player was named to the all-tournament team.

Matt Gangawere was the winning pitcher in a 6-3 semifinal victory over Claremont. Silva, pitching in relief, was credited with the victory in the championship game, a 6-5 win over Eugene, Ore.

Gangawere and Silva combined to go 7-2 in the tournaments.

“Gangawere and Silva carried us,” Stevenson said. “They were workhorses. We had some good games from Frank Bignami (of Redondo High), but overall Matt and Ted were the tough ones.”