Cal Lutheran Holds Its Fate in Its Arms : Baseball preview: Kingsmen’s chances for third consecutive SCIAC title dependent on what amounts to five-man pitching staff.

Playing college baseball is nothing to take for granted, Scott Sebbo and Chris Fick of Cal Lutheran have learned.

Their coach appreciates their ability and will pencil them into the lineup every game this season, beginning with today’s opener at Azusa Pacific.

That makes them lucky Lu Dawgs, as they call themselves. And they know it.

“Some guys don’t realize how precious it is to have a shot to play college baseball,” Fick said as he watched his teammates take batting practice. “When I see somebody going through the motions, I shake my head.”

In a season marked by change at Cal Lutheran, Sebbo and Fick are reminders of a colorful tradition of Kingsmen who have prospered through persistence.

Sebbo finally is playing catcher, the position he has longed for since youth league. His El Toro High team had a better catcher, so Sebbo played first base.

At Orange Coast College, Sebbo played anywhere his coach asked. He was never asked to catch. Last season at Cal Lutheran, he batted .344 and earned All-Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference honors as a utility player. He caught for one inning.

“It’s what I always wanted to do,” he said. “Calling pitches, handling the ball. It’s a good spot.”

Because of injuries, Fick went almost five years after graduating from Newbury Park High in 1988 before he wore a college uniform. He hit five home runs in four games for the Cal Lutheran junior varsity last year, was promoted, batted .341 and led the Kingsmen with nine home runs. He was named to the All-Far West team.

Such a track record of overcoming adversity is not lost on Coach Marty Slimak, who is looking to Sebbo and Fick to help an inexperienced team mature quickly.

“They are our leaders and our strongest link to the things this program accomplished the past few years,” Slimak said. “This has always been a place for guys who might have been overlooked somewhere else.”

Slimak will begin his first year as head coach, but he is another link to the team’s 142-39 record and two trips to the NCAA Division III World Series since 1990.

That was the year he became Coach Rich Hill’s assistant. Hill, master recruiter and walking billboard for Cal Lutheran baseball, has moved to the University of San Francisco.

“It’s a little looser this year,” Sebbo said. “Coach Hill was high-strung at times. He made all the decisions.

“Coach Slimak isn’t afraid to ask his assistants about things. He’ll even ask players what they’d like to do in a certain situation. I don’t feel stupid if I ask the wrong question.”

Slimak, for his part, believes he is following the same course Hill charted.

“Why change a good thing?” he said. “I might be more open with the players, probably because I was an assistant for so long, but I’m not going to change a whole lot around here.”

More of the same would include winning. The Kingsmen were 32-9 last season on the heels of a 43-6 1992 campaign that ended with a defeat in the World Series final.

But winning requires quality pitching, and there are conflicting opinions on how well this year’s staff will fare. Slimak takes a guarded view.

“If we have a weakness, it is pitching,” he said, noting the graduation last year of three Division III All-Americans: Jeff Berman, Pat Norville and Mike Winslow.

Starters Sam Arroyo, Marc Weiss, David Jaglowski and brothers Tim and Andrew Barber figure to be effective. The talent falls off thereafter, which could leave the Kingsmen vulnerable.

Fick, who as designated hitter has time to ponder such things, believes the pitching will hold up.

“Everybody is counting us out, but we’ve got five legit starters,” he said.

It is doubtful that Cal Lutheran, as two-time defending conference champion, is being regarded lightly. However, Redlands, Pomona-Pitzer and La Verne will field experienced teams, making a third title a severe challenge.

Scoring runs should not be difficult. Batting in front of Sebbo and Fick are outfielders Jason Wilson, David Chapman and Kirk Fellows.

Wilson, the team’s fastest player, batted .299 with 17 stolen bases last year. Chapman hit .320 in a part-time role and Fellows, a transfer from College of the Canyons, might be the team’s best pure hitter. Fellows batted .375 with 34 runs batted in over 35 games at Canyons last year.

The infielders are an eclectic bunch. Shortstop Eddie Castillo hit .324 in a utility role last year and second baseman Ed Campaniello, an Agoura High graduate, is a transfer from San Francisco State.

Bounce-back players from Division I schools also will share time at first and third.

At first, Mike Shwartzer, a transfer from San Diego State who attended Reseda High, is competing with John Becker, a junior college transfer. At third, former Simi Valley High player Joe Gordon, in his second year at Cal Lutheran after transferring from UCLA, is competing with Bryce Malone, a junior whose athleticism is compensating for the fact that he did not play baseball last year.

Key reserves include Trent Martin, a power-hitting outfielder from Thousand Oaks High and Moorpark College who was the 1992 American Legion national leader in RBIs for World Series champion Newbury Oaks, and Chad Miyata, a speedy outfielder from Hart High and College of the Canyons.