Glendale Remodels With Left-Handed Craftsmen

Among Glendale High’s “Twelve Angry Men” are two “crafty left-handers,” one of whom pitched six-plus innings Friday night to help reduce the team’s magic number to 3.

Senior left-hander Bryan Chan had to be the happiest of the dozen Dynamiters after Glendale defeated Arcadia, 10-6, at Arcadia to move a step closer to its first Pacific League championship since 1988.

Chan, who allowed two seventh-inning runs in a 3-2 loss to Arcadia last month, scattered eight hits and struck out three before yielding to junior right-hander Richard Argotta in the seventh. Argotta recorded the final three outs to earn a save.

Glendale (15-3, 9-2 in league play), which has defeated Arcadia (14-6, 8-3) in two of three meetings this season, is one game ahead of the Apaches with four games to play.

“Our intensity is doing it for us--knowing we’re not going to lose,” Chan said. “It was a really emotional game.”

For the Dynamiters, emotion has had to be to be high, considering manpower is low.

Third-year Coach Spiro Psaltis decided before the season to limit the roster to 12 players. But Psaltis found a rallying cry by dubbing the team “Twelve Angry Men” after a much-acclaimed motion picture few players were familiar with.

“Actually, I’d never even heard of it,” Chan said. “He just brought it up in practice one day.”

No players have risen more prominently than Chan and fellow senior left-hander Phil Onsaga, who provide Glendale with, perhaps, the best 1-2 punch in the league.

Chan and Onsaga, who bats cleanup, rank as the top two among team leaders in batting average, home runs and runs batted in. Both players have two home runs.

Neither pitcher throws particularly hard or boasts an intimidating presence. Chan stands 5 feet 11, Onsaga is 5-10 and both weigh 170 pounds. They have relied on mostly on placement of pitches.

Psaltis, a 1977 graduate of Glendale and a former left-handed pitcher at Glendale and USC, affectionately refers to his pitchers as “crafty left-handers.”

“There are no such things as crafty right-handers,” Psaltis said jokingly.

“It’s been somewhat nice. Me being a former left-handed pitcher, we work on the same things.”

Chan agrees.

“We do a pretty good job of changing speeds and hitting spots,” Chan said. “We don’t throw very hard, so I guess you’d say we have to be crafty.”

Onsaga, a transfer from St. Francis, missed half of last season at Glendale because of academic ineligibility.

This season, Onsaga’s grades are good and his pitching is better.

“Last year, it really hurt,” Onsaga said. “[This season], it’s a closer-knit group. We do a lot of things together, eat together, talk about the game. We’re more of a team.”

Onsaga (7-1) scattered three hits and struck out seven in five innings of a 17-2 rout of Muir on Wednesday. Chan hit two home runs.

Against Arcadia, Chan (5-2) won for only the second time in five decisions against the Apaches in his career.

Chan, who pitched a no-hitter against Pasadena last season and has signed with Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, said the earlier loss to Arcadia served as motivation.

“It’s never easy against Arcadia, especially at their field,” Chan said. “Their fans were ragging on us the whole time. It was a really emotional game.”

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Among a pair of Marmonte League upsets Friday, the gutsiest was Simi Valley’s 3-2 victory at Royal. The unlikeliest was Newbury Park’s 3-1 victory at Camarillo.

Simi Valley stretched its winning streak to 10 games as left-hander Bill Castonguay (3-2) held the Highlanders to six hits and stranded 11 runners.

Royal, ranked No. 1 in The Times’ regional poll, repeatedly seemed one hit away from breaking the game open. But Castonguay, who walked eight, escaped jam after jam, recording many of his eight strikeouts when they were needed most.

While Castonguay provided the Pioneers with poise, Chris Thorgersen of Newbury Park provided the Panthers simply with surprise.

Thorgersen (2-5), a junior right-hander who surrendered two home runs in an 8-1 loss to Camarillo a month ago, pitched a six-hitter while striking out one and walking three.

“I just threw fastballs and curves and a couple of changes,” Thorgersen said. “I knew going in that we were a longshot. But our defense really came together and I got more confidence when our people started hitting the ball.”

Camarillo (17-3, 8-2) plays at Royal (19-2, 8-2) Wednesday in a game that could determine the league title.