Prep Baseball ‘94: Sunset League : Fountain Valley

1993 RECORDS:

OVERALL: 23-5

LEAGUE: 13-1

COACH: Ron LaRuffa

RECORD AT SCHOOL: 92-47

RETURNING STARTERS YR. POS. B-T Dan Hoppie Sr. C R-R Matt Roman Jr. OF L-L Geoff Wilson Sr. OF R-R TOP RETURNERS YR. POS. B-T Luke Fox Sr. 1B L-L Dave Fraser Sr. P R-R Jason Liuzzi Sr. P L-L Bill Perkins Sr. P L-L Deric Yanagisawa Sr. C/3B R-R Brett Young Sr. 3B R-R TOP NEWCOMERS YR. POS. B-T Kevin Burford So. OF L-L Luke Hudson Jr. P R-R Daniel Keller Jr. SS/P R-R Chris Ponchak Jr. P/OF R-R Craig Ritter Jr. 2B R-R

OUTLOOK

Brian Ponchak, the co-MVP of the league last season, is now at USC. But his younger brother, Chris, picked up where he left off by hitting a grand slam and recording a save in the Barons’ 5-4 victory over Marina in the quarterfinals of the Loara tournament Tuesday. Chris Ponchak, Keller, Hudson, Perkins, and Liuzzi are the five pitchers competing for positions in the starting rotation. Hoppie and Roman, both second-team all-league selections last season, should play prominent roles on offense. LaRuffa hopes Yanagisawa will also drive in runs and said Burford is one of the best young hitters in the county. “We have some young kids who would have played more last year but we had such a dominant senior class,” LaRuffa said. “We should be near the top of our league, but it will be tough. There are no breathers in this league.”