Kocur’s Talent Spills Over Into Baseball

Jack Kocur might be a little wet behind the ears, but he has proved himself with the glove and the bat.

Kocur, a senior and standout water polo player at Royal High, did not touch a mitt for three years before deciding to play baseball this season. Still, he has emerged as the Highlanders’ starting second baseman and cleanup hitter.

Kocur is batting .250 (three for 12) but has hit the ball hard, Coach Dan Maye said, and has had a hand in five double plays.

“He’s probably one of the top athletes at the school,” Maye said. “He probably could have been quarterback if he didn’t pick water polo. For a guy who has taken a three-year layoff, he’s doing a great job.”

MARMONTE LEAGUE

BASEBALL

If it’s Monday this must be . . . well, it might be Simi Valley at Newbury Park. Or perhaps Camarillo at Westlake.

It could be any one of a number of league matchups, thanks to a decision by league administrators that has forced the rescheduling of a handful of games and caused some teams to play as many as three games in one week.

“If you want to go out and watch somebody, it’s confusing,” Maye said. “There’s no regular rotation anymore.”

The decision was made to prevent teams from playing league games during spring break. However, the four school districts whose members make up the eight-team league follow three different spring-break schedules. Hence the headache and confusion of rescheduling.

To wit: Simi Valley, which played rescheduled games last week on Tuesday against Newbury Park and Thursday against Channel Islands, logged two league games before five teams had played even one. Royal will play Channel Islands and Westlake twice before playing Simi Valley or Newbury Park.

This week, Camarillo and Westlake will play three games. Westlake can look forward to another three-game week in April.

“If you have the pitching, it’s not a problem,” said Westlake Coach Rich Herrera, whose team was scheduled to play Camarillo, Simi Valley and Royal this week. “But if you don’t, you’re up a creek.”

Said Thousand Oaks Coach Jim Hansen: “It’s just screwed up anything that resembles a baseball schedule.”

Clint Harris of Thousand Oaks was the league’s leading hitter as the Lancers entered play this week. Harris, a senior, was batting .680 (17 for 25) with team-high totals in hits, runs (eight), doubles (five), triples (two) and slugging percentage (1.040). . . . Senior Colby Keener of Camarillo is batting .416, with a league-high seven doubles, a triple and a home run. He has 22 total bases in 24 at-bats, a .917 slugging percentage.

Simi Valley has seven home runs, and seven players have hit them--Ryan Hankins, Jeff Michael, Kevin Nykoluk, Britten Pond, Bill Scheffels, Denver Smith and Aaron Whitley. Michael, a sophomore who joined the varsity last week, is three for eight with seven runs batted in, including a three-run home run Friday against Channel Islands.

Westlake entered league play this week with a 3-3 record achieved with anemic hitting and strong pitching. The Warriors are batting only .201 (30 for 149) and have only six extra-base hits--none of them home runs.

However, the staff’s earned-run average is 2.67, thanks largely to junior right-hander Chris Flanagan, who has four complete-game victories and an ERA of 0.75.

TRACK AND FIELD

Marion Jones of Thousand Oaks wasted little time in establishing herself as one of the favorites for the state title in the girls’ long jump.

Jones, the three-time defending state champion in the 100 and 200 meters, decided to compete in the long jump to her repertoire this season to add a little spice to her track and field routine. On Saturday, she jumped 19 feet 10 3/4 inches in her debut to win the Diamond Bar Invitational at Cal Poly Pomona.

Jones’ leap was the top girls’ outdoor mark in the nation this season, moved her to fourth on the all-time region list and could have been substantially longer had she taken off closer to the board.

If Jones wins the 100, 200 and long jump in the state championships, she would be the first girl to win three state titles since 1987 when Janeene Vickers of Pomona won the 100 along with the 100- and 300-meter low hurdles.

Madette Smith of Quartz Hill (20-11 1/4 in 1986), Marlene Harmon of Thousand Oaks (20-8 3/4 in ‘80) and Tammy Bryant of Ventura (20-0 in ‘83) rank first, second and third on the all-time region list in the girls’ long jump.

NORTHWEST VALLEY CONFERENCE

BASEBALL

Where has El Camino Real Coach Mike Maio been hiding left-hander Randy Wolf all these years? He hasn’t, truth be told. Wolf started as a freshman and sophomore in right field and could become the school’s first four-year starter since Ryan McGuire (1987-90). McGuire is a junior All-American first baseman at UCLA.

Wolf, who didn’t pitch until this season, has not allowed a run in 12 innings and has 16 strikeouts. Last week, he threw a four-hitter and struck out 10 in a 12-0 victory over Kennedy. McGuire also was a stranger to the mound in his early high school years.

“We didn’t use either of them (as pitchers) at first, even though they could both throw pretty well,” Maio said. “We let them mature, and I think it paid off.”

After seven games, El Camino Real was batting .447 (92 for 206) and had scored 92 runs.

Which team entered the week as the North Valley League leader after two games? Difficult to believe, but after two victories over Reseda last week, it’s Cleveland. San Fernando is 1-1, and Granada Hills and Kennedy each dropped their first two games. Of the nine Cleveland starters, seven had not played a varsity game before this year and three had not played a high school game at any level.

Cleveland leadoff hitter Junior Brignac, a freshman, is the nephew of Cavalier pitcher Anthony Williams, a junior.

Granada Hills Coach Darryl Stroh has a tongue-in-cheek explanation for why senior second baseman Gaby Halcovich--a light hitter last season--is leading the team in hits (18), batting average (.643), doubles (six), runs batted in (12) and stolen bases (six). “His girlfriend is keeping track of the score book,” Stroh said.

Many of the faces in the Kennedy lineup are familiar, but in the coaching box it is a different story. After years of wearing his trademark mustache, Coach Manny Alvarado has shaved it off, and the change in appearance is startling. His son, Manny, a 15-year-old at Royal, has grown one. “One in the house is enough,” the coach said. “Besides, mine was starting to get a little white.”

GOLDEN LEAGUE

BASEBALL

Highland, in its fourth year of existence and first as a member of the Golden League, didn’t earn its long-awaited first league decision last Friday as expected. The score in Highland’s league opener against Palmdale was tied, 3-3, when the game was called after eight innings because of darkness. The game will be completed April 13, and a regularly scheduled game with Palmdale will follow.

Ask Antelope Valley Coach Ed t’Sas why his team stumbled to an 0-5 start, and the statistics start to flow. Off the top of his head. To the decimal point. “We’re deeply into it,” he said of his attention to stats. And deeply in the red. Antelope Valley is averaging 3.6 errors a game, has scored 27 runs and surrendered 48, of which 18 are unearned.

CHANNEL LEAGUE

BASEBALL

Senior right-hander John French has made the grade, and Ventura Coach Dan Smith, for one, is happy he did.

French, the Cougars’ best pitcher, was in jeopardy of being academically ineligible before the season began.

Now, French’s grades are good and his fastball is better. Although he is 0-2, French pitched 5 1/3 hitless innings Friday against San Marcos before allowing a two-run home run that led to a 4-1 loss.

“He throws decent,” Smith said. “He’s in the 80s (m.p.h).”. . . . Derek Swafford is batting .364 (eight for 22) and leads Ventura in hits, RBIs (seven) and stolen bases (four).

FOOTHILL LEAGUE

BASEBALL

Hart’s Eric Spindt made a smooth transition from the hardwood to the hill.

Spindt, a junior, was the starting point guard on the Indians’ basketball team. He led league players in assists and steals, with averages of 4.9 and 2.3, and helped lead the Indians to the league title.

As a left-handed reliever, he has pitched the third-most innings on the team (10) and is third in strikeouts with 11. Spindt is 2-0 with a 2.10 ERA.

Hart senior center fielder Casey Niccum broke out of a slump in the Indians’ nonleague sweep of visiting Huntington Beach on Saturday. Niccum had four hits and three RBIs, and he drove in the winning run in Game 2 with his single in the bottom of the seventh inning. He is batting .381 with one home run and six RBIs.

FRONTIER LEAGUE

BASEBALL

Calabasas junior third baseman John Morton has received well-deserved attention for his hitting prowess. However, Morton might be one of the Frontier League’s best pitchers too.

Morton is tops on the Coyote staff at 2-0. He leads the team with 17 strikeouts and has not allowed a run in 9 2/3 innings. Morton had 25 strikeouts in 26 2/3 innings as a reliever last season.

“He has just been great,” Coach Rick Nathanson said. “He is such a great everyday player that you sometimes don’t think as much about his pitching.”

Morton is batting .615 and leads the Coyotes in home runs (two), runs (10) and RBIs (11). His current hitting streak of 25 games over two seasons is the longest in school history.

TRI-VALLEY LEAGUE

BASEBALL

Oak Park Coach Mike Bolyog hoped someone in his sophomore-dominated lineup would get off to a fast start. Bolyog got what he wanted.

Sophomore center fielder Eric Ruhle had six hits in his first eight at-bats and had five steals without being caught.

“With so many young guys, you need people to start fast to gain confidence,” Bolyog said. “Eric has been superb. He’ll catch any ball put up in the air.”

Oak Park has 22 stolen bases in 23 attempts. Senior catcher Damin Sterling is tied with Ruhle for the team lead.

Staff writers Steve Elling, Vince Kowalick, Paige A. Leech, John Ortega and Jason H. Reid contributed to this notebook.

Regional Baseball Top 10 Selected by sportswriters of The Times

Lst. Rk Wk Team League Record 1 1 Simi Valley Marmonte 6-1 2 2 Notre Dame Mission 7-0 3 3 El Camino Real North Valley 7-1 4 4 Crespi Mission 6-1 5 6 Taft West Valley 6-2 6 7 Hart Foothill 6-1 7 8 Buena Channel 6-2 8 5 Kennedy North Valley 6-2 9 9 Palmdale Golden 6-0-1 10 NR Saugus Foothill 7-2

NR--Not ranked.