Sliding Into First : Capistrano Valley’s Rik Currier had the lowest earned-run average in the county last season. This year, he could be even better.

Zero point four nine.

Contemplate that earned-run average for a second. Any longer and it will leave your head swimming.

Zero point four nine.

That was the ERA of Capistrano Valley right-hander Rik Currier last season. His sophomore season. Of the 29 runs scored against him in 13 appearances, only five were earned.

But the county’s lowest ERA wasn’t the only impressive number posted last season by Currier.

In 71 2/3 innings he struck out 98 batters--second in the county to Liberty Christian’s Jeff Cook (115)--while giving up only 40 hits. He walked 34 and hit seven batters.

It makes you wonder how Currier, who posted an 8-3 record and earned Times all-county second-team honors, lost a game. It also leaves you wondering what he can do this season for an encore.

Currier, whom many expect to be the dominant pitcher in the county this season, called his 1995 season “a blessing.”

“I could never have imagined a season with an ERA like that,” he said. “I went into the season with no expectations, just pitch like I can and let the rest follow. That’s how I looked at it, and to have fun doing it.

“The expectations this season will be high, but I can get past things like that. I won’t let [pressure] bother me. Even last year, when things were going pretty good, I kind of expected that. It’s not being cocky or anything, it’s just something I do. It can be hard to explain. I don’t really think about it unless I’m playing the game.”

And he certainly plays the game well, at least from the mound.

“He’s everything you’d want in a pitcher,” Capistrano

Valley Coach Bob Zamora said. “He’s mechanically sound, a competitor, and he’s got a pitch [the slider] that most kids don’t see in high school. He sets it up well, so even if he doesn’t throw it for a strike, it looks like a fastball so people often get themselves out on balls out of the zone.”

The slider is maybe second in difficulty only to the screwball in learning how to throw, not to mention possible damage it can cause elbow and shoulder joints, tendons and ligaments even if thrown properly. Several local coaches, such as Esperanza’s Mike Curran, are leery of teenagers fooling with the pitch.

“The slider puts tremendous pressure on the arm,” Curran said. “We will not teach it. I’d rather teach the curve, maybe the cut fastball. And a bad slider comes in flat, then gets flattened. But his slider is nasty. And he’s not just a one-pitch pitcher.”

Indeed, Currier, 17, has an above-average fastball (mid-80 mph), a curve and a changeup. And he can throw them for strikes. But the slider sets him apart because so few high school players see the pitch, much less try to hit it.

An indication of how good Currier can be is evident in the two one-hitters he threw last season. One came May 5 against Dana Hills--the school he transferred from after his freshman year--and the other was April 12 against Troy. Troy Coach Dane Ilertson said trying to hit Currier was “like trying to eat Jello with chopsticks. We never did catch up to him. Even the one hit wasn’t a decent hit, just a flare down the line.”

Beating Currier was also difficult. Mater Dei Coach Bob Ickes remembered how his team needed two unearned runs on a couple of Capistrano Valley errors to pull out a victory.

“He’s legit,” Ickes said of Currier. “His slider is hard for high school kids to hit. His fastball is better than average. And he has command. Plus he’s poised beyond his years. I was surprised to learn he was just a sophomore.”

Be prepared to learn a lot more about Currier and Capistrano Valley this season. After posting a 17-11 mark in 1995, the Cougars open this season as The Times’ top-ranked team in Orange County. Besides Currier, there’s the senior duo of outfielder Todd Miller (.435), who did not commit an error last season, and shortstop John DiCorpo (.321), who had 18 runs batted in. Other solid role players include catcher Matt Pope, pitchers Ryan Nassar and Pat Versluis, and outfielder Andy Tuzzolino.

The Cougars say they are primed to go beyond the quarterfinals, where last season they lost to eventual Division I champion Fountain Valley, 3-2.

Currier, who started for the Cougars, cannot forget the loss.

“I need to improve on not making stupid pitches, like I did against Fountain Valley,” Currier said. “You always learn things in the real tough games. Against Fountain Valley, I let a couple pitches get away from me, and those are the things you want to improve on.

“We have such a good camaraderie on our team, and I don’t want to [come up short] again. We want to go all the way. I think we have the team to do it. We can’t let our heads get too big; there are other teams that have had high expectations, but they don’t come true. I don’t want that to happen this year.”

Currier always has had a strong arm, perhaps the strongest of the three Currier brothers. Older brothers Rod and Ryan played baseball at Dana Hills. Rod, 22, a catcher, went on to play at Saddleback College. Ryan, 19, a pitcher and infielder, entered the Army after high school.

Mark Currier, their father, said Rik’s potential was evident during T-ball games, where as a third baseman he was consistently overthrowing first basemen.

“It’s a gift,” Mark Currier said of his son’s arm.

When Rik Currier was 8, Mark took his sons to a baseball clinic at La Mirada High. Rod and Ryan went over to the fielding coaches. Currier was sent to pitching coach Al Smilowitz.

Smilowitz taught Currier the basics; the proper way to throw, how to use his entire body to pitch instead of just his arm. Those lessons have stayed with Currier.

“I wish I knew where he was [to thank him],” his father said said.

The slider came during a one-time lesson from a pitching coach several years ago, when Currier was trying out for a Norwalk team in the Mickey Mantle League. “He’s always been a fast learner,” Mark said.

Currier was expected to continue the family tradition of playing baseball at Dana Hills, but after his freshman year on the varsity team, he transferred to Capistrano Valley.

“I thought the program was a lot better over here,” Currier explained.

Said Mark: “Put it this way: We didn’t want to move from Dana Hills, but we’re glad we did. Bob Zamora is a fantastic coach, the type of person that I want my son to emulate and be coached by. The season he had last year? That would not have happened at Dana Hills.”

Former Dana Hills Coach Bob Canary, who stepped down after last season, said he does not hold any ill will toward the Curriers. “They felt his career would be furthered by transferring,” he said. “That happens these days. You can’t keep everyone happy. That was the first time I faced that.

“We worked well with pitchers. When Rik was here we had Seth Etherton [USC] and a couple of years before that, John Spaulding. Both were first-team All-Southern Section. But we never made it an issue. Each time we played Capo last season, Rik and I talked cordially. I wish him well.”

Currier’s easy-going style camouflages his steely reserve on the mound. Off the field he’s known as “Preppy” and “Mr. GQ” to his teammates, in part because of how he dresses. And he’s smiling. Always smiling.

But there is a toughness to go with his quiet veneer. Currier has spent the last two years as a cornerback on the varsity football team. When pitching, he has no trouble throwing inside if he thinks the batter is crowding the plate. And he has an unshakable confidence in his ability to get outs, especially with the game on the line.

Don’t tell him he is incredibly talented or lucky, however.

“The key to my success is hard work,” Currier said. “I don’t wear out my arm.”

Along with pitching, Currier will play some second base for Capistrano Valley. He didn’t have a particularly good season last year with the bat, averaging .244 with two RBIs and 10 runs scored. But during American Legion play last summer, he began to develop some power. He homered twice in a tournament in Las Vegas and blasted another against Camarillo in the Yountville, Calif., tournament.

The latter blast earned him a prize--20 pounds of sweet potatoes.

“We still have some,” Currier said. “We’ve had ‘em since Thanksgiving. We give some to the dogs.”

Currier doesn’t expect to equal his performance of last year, at least as far as his ERA is concerned. But he wants to prove he’s not a one-season wonder, especially with everyone taking aim at him this season.

“If you’re a player, you want that kind of recognition,” Currier said. “Last year was a pretty good year for me, and I think I earned it. Hopefully I’ll earn it this season too.”