Scouts Converge on Pierce to See Cuban Defectors

For many college baseball coaches, fall practice can be a welcome respite from the pressures of the spring schedule. It is a time for quietly evaluating talent and slowly working out the kinks backstage before drawing the curtain on the regular season in February.

But that has not been the case at Pierce College the past couple of weeks. The Brahmas, who reached the final four in the state junior college championship last season, have drawn the interest of numerous professional baseball scouts this fall. In fact, about a dozen showed up at practice Wednesday to watch the team take batting practice and work on cutoff throws. The Dodgers sent Terry Reynolds, their director of scouting.

Few came to evaluate the swing or clock the pitches of any Pierce players, however. Instead, they were lured by a chance to check out a trio of Cuban defectors who have been training with the Pierce team since arriving in Los Angeles two weeks ago.

“There’s a curiosity involved with the Cubans, so obviously they’re getting the attention,” Pierce Coach Bob Lofrano said. “We’ve tried to look at it in a positive way. I’ve told the team, ‘As long as (the scouts) are out here, those people will get a chance to see you too.’ ”

The Cubans--outfielder Alexis Cabreja, infielder Osmani Estrada and left-handed pitcher Ivan Alvarez--left their Havana-based team in Merida, Mexico, on the eve of a regional baseball tournament earlier this month.

After hiding out for several days in Mexico City, they clandestinely entered the United States, where they have come under the care of Gus Dominguez, a Woodland Hills talent representative.

Dominguez negotiated the contract of another Cuban defector, Rene Arocha, who signed with the St. Louis Cardinals last year. Arocha, the first Cuban baseball player to defect in 31 years, was offered a contract after performing for scouts at a special tryout in Van Nuys.

Dominguez, a former Cal State Northridge pitcher, hopes to arrange a similar session for Cabreja, Estrada and Alvarez. Until then, the scouts figure to be spending a lot of time at Pierce.

“(The Cubans) are with us to get themselves in shape for whatever tryout they have,” Lofrano said. “It’s actually a good diversion. This changes the monotony of just being out there every day.”

What the average Pierce player sees as monotony is likely to be viewed quite differently by someone who has just spent 24 years in Cuba, a point Lofrano makes sure is not lost on his players.

“These are guys who have left their countries to try to better themselves and their lives through their athletic talent,” he said. “For us, we’re taking part in a little historic thing.”

GOOD FIRST STEP

The Cal State Northridge men’s and women’s track and field teams have finally found a conference to call home, at least when it comes to indoor track.

The Matadors, along with several other schools affiliated with the Pacific 10 and Big West conferences, will compete in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation indoor track championships in Reno on Feb. 26-27.

Northridge will be among six schools that already have committed full teams to the meet, which serves as the conference championship. Other schools such as UCLA, Oregon and Washington are expected to send several top individual athletes.

Other schools that will send teams are Stanford, California, Utah State, Nevada Las Vegas (women only), and host Nevada.

“This is a big step in the right direction for us,” CSUN Coach Don Strametz said. “It gives us something concrete to shoot for, to shoot at. Performing well in a conference meet will definitely help motivate the athletes while they are training during the fall and winter.”

BUDGET CRUNCH

The cross-country season apparently will end earlier than usual this year for the Northridge men’s and women’s teams because of severe budget cuts that have affected all of the athletic programs in the California State University system.

Since moving to the NCAA Division I level two years ago, Northridge has sent teams to the District 8 regional meet, which is a qualifying meet for the Division I championships. But when the District 8 meet is held Nov. 14 in Tucson, Ariz., Northridge will send only a handful of individual runners, led by senior Sasha Vujic, the school record-holder in the 1,500 (3 minutes 41.23 seconds) and 3,000 meters (8:10.79).

“That’s the way it’s looking right now,” Strametz said. “I just don’t think we’re going to have the money to send two full teams down there.”

CENTER OF ATTENTION

Northridge’s Brian Hay, a left guard who was converted to center last week, has taken to his new responsibilities and assignments with a passion.

“I love it,” Hay said. “There’s a different dimension. It’s the best position on the line.”

The other midseason position change was more radical--defensive tackle Alex DeHayward was switched to offensive guard.

“He’s a quick learner,” Coach Bob Burt said. “We’ve been impressed with him.”

It is DeHayward’s first experience on the offensive line.

“I just moved there to help the team,” he said. “There’s a lot to learn, but I’m picking it up rapidly.”

WEAPONS STORAGE

Three of the top four scorers on the Cal Lutheran women’s soccer team are freshmen. Joey Allard, Jill Gallegos and defender Lea Stankevich have eased the burden on junior Rachel Wackerman, Cal Lutheran’s all-time leading scorer with 82 goals.

“Before, we had one gun in our arsenal,” said George Kuntz, who also coaches the men’s team. “Now, we have three guns, a couple of tanks, a bazooka and a hand grenade.”

Staff writers Kevin Baxter, Kennedy Cosgrove, Theresa Munoz and John Ortega contributed to this notebook.