THE TIMES 1994 ALL-COUNTY BASEBALL TEAM : Coach of the Year : Tereschuk’s Tempo on Pace for Servite

Tom Tereschuk, The Times Orange County coach of the year, didn’t have any expectations when he became the Servite High School baseball coach last summer. But then, who did?

The Friars were coming off back-to-back losing seasons. They had finished 9-15 in 1993 and 3-22 in 1992. Their coach had resigned for personal reasons. They hadn’t been to the Southern Section playoffs since 1991.

So there wasn’t a lot to expect.

“I just wanted to try to set a tempo,” Tereschuk said. “I wanted to make us a very solid fundamental team. We were going to do things right. Then, we were going to let everything take its natural course.”

The end of the line turned out to be the Division I playoffs.

Tereschuk returned the Friars to prominence. They were 15-10 overall and 9-5 in the tough Sunset League, good enough for a second-place finish. Tereschuk accomplished that with a group of overachievers, who were solid but not overly talented.

The Friars were 4-4-1 and 1-3 in league play before the Dole Big West tournament. They finished the regular season with an 11-5 run. Two of those loses were to Fountain Valley, which won the Division I championship.

“I think I was pretty demanding in practice,” Tereschuk said. “I wanted us to be prepared. But I tried not to put any pressure on them.”

Tereschuk knows the drill well. He was 98-66-2 in seven years at California High in Whittier. The Condors, who had won only three games before his arrival, won the Whitmont League championship and reached the 3-A quarterfinals in 1988.