Canyon Soars to the Top : COMANCHES BEGIN SEASON AS NATION’S TOP-RANKED TEAM. BUT THE MAJOR LEAGUE QUESTION REMAINS, WHEN WILL PITCHING EVER CATCH UP TO THE HITTING

The millennium is three years away. Change is everywhere, from ordering dinner on the Internet to the Hubble telescope redefining the boundaries of the solar system.

But some things stay pretty much the same.

Baseball is like that. Equipment improves, players get stronger, but there is still 90 feet between each base and three strikes you’re out. And a team never runs out of time to rally; it just runs out of outs.

Most questions on the eve of the 1997 prep baseball season will eventually be answered on the playing field.

Can Canyon, ranked No. 1 in the country in USA Today’s preseason poll, survive its rugged schedule and repeat as Southern Section Division II champions? Can Fountain Valley reach the Division I final for a fourth consecutive time?

Will there will be teams that surprise, as Fullerton and El Toro did last year, when the Indians and Chargers won league titles? Will game scores continue to resemble football results, or will pitching begin a comeback?

Most important, how is the game itself?

In the view of several coaches contacted by The Times, the state of the high school game is still a positive one.

Irvine’s Bob Flint, Fountain Valley’s Ron La Ruffa, La Quinta’s Dave Demarest, Sonora’s Pat Tellers and Esperanza’s Mike Curran have a combined 76 years of experience and have won a total of six section titles.

Each says high school baseball is still fun to play and to coach, and in many ways it is a better game on the field than it was 20 years ago.

“The game has never been better in Orange County with the athletes, the state of facilities and the coaches,” La Ruffa said. “Baseball has caught up with football and basketball, as far as organized practices and coaching techniques. We’ve been catching up for nearly 10 years. There’s now a wealth of information that was not there when I was playing.”

Said Flint: “It’s better because the game is better coached by more people. When I was at Western in 1972, we could plan on picking off eight to 10 runners during the season. Now we’re lucky to get one or two because everybody gets coached.”

Still, concerns were expressed about where the game is headed.

Troubles start with the growing disparity between hitting and pitching. During this decade, there has been an explosion of offense. According to Prep Extra’s statistics, an average of 55 players per season have batted .400 or higher since 1990. In each of the last two seasons, that number has risen to 76.

Runners crossed the plate seemingly in packs last year. There were 11 batters who hit eight or more home runs, and 25 players had at least 30 runs batted in. Heritage Christian’s Paul Caffrey had a spectacular sophomore season in 1996, setting county single-season records in batting average (.597) and RBIs (56), and a section record in triples (13).

The coaches say the aluminum bat is the leading contributor.

“They are lethal weapons,” Flint said of the bats. “You pick up an aluminum bat, and [its weight] is very balanced, and that means a faster swing. Pick up a wood bat and you feel an immediate difference. All wood bats feel top-heavy after swinging an aluminum bat.”

Said Demarest: “The offensive part of the game is out of balance. Today’s bats are like tennis rackets, with their bigger sweet spots and even weight distribution. There is no help for pitching, unless you make the mound higher or move pitchers closer.”

And La Ruffa added, “It’s harder to teach all-around fundamentals when even 140-pound kids can go deep.”

But the coaches aren’t advocating any rule changes; they say the game responds best when it corrects imbalances naturally.

“I get worried about individuals putting in rules that make things nit-picky,” Curran said. “Take the rule where if a pitcher turns a shoulder to look at the baserunner, it’s now a balk. That has nothing to do with playing the game, and [high school is] the only level that does it. You hope that is unique and not a trend.

“The name of game is don’t take away from the game with too many rules. If you’re talking safety, that is one thing. But let’s not have guys on the committee who feel they just need to have something going. That stuff bothers me.”

And it doesn’t immediately address how or when pitching will reclaim its equilibrium.

A generation of pitchers has grown up throwing to aluminum bat-wielding hitters. Despite a greater emphasis on weight training and year-round baseball, Demarest said, “It is evident there has been a decline in the number of power arms.” Those are the players who can throw around 90 mph.

So if you can’t beat ‘em with speed, you have to try finesse. More players have turned to “trick” pitches, such as split-finger fastballs and changeups, to try and upset a batter’s timing.

“You don’t see as many blue-chip prospects among throwers now,” Tellers said. “Overall, pitching has gone down. I’m hoping it’s just a cycle, but I don’t know. Offense has jumped. We hit .402 as a team last year, and .397 in 1995 . . . that is high.

“It seems most schools have one pitcher with the low ERA and then have two to three guys who get pounded. Hitters have a real advantage because balls and bats are better, and pitching has gone down.”

Demarest wondered why, given the improved medical and training techniques, pitchers still suffer from tired or “dead” arms.

“The older generation says kids don’t throw enough and that’s why they have arm problems,” Demarest said. “Doctors say kids throw too much and throw curve balls too early.

“I’d like to know what creates the tired, dead arm. We play winter ball, and my second baseman volunteered to pitch. Here’s a guy who throws all the time. But after two innings, he says his arm is dead.”

There are other problems lurking on the sidelines.

Flint said he is dismayed by many players’ attitudes and behavior, though he insists most county players are not the problems.

He said players are talking back to umpires more often and are being more disrespectful to opponents. He remembered an incident two seasons ago when after an Irvine player made the last out of an inning, an opposing player stepped out of his dugout and screamed a couple of obscenities at Flint and the Vaqueros.

“That’s an extreme case,” Flint said. “But there seems to be a general lack of sportsmanship, though I don’t see it with guys who have coached a long time. Those teams don’t embarrass people.”

Curran said coaches have to monitor reserve players, who are being told by others that they could be stars if they got to play regularly.

“If a kid hears that enough times, he starts taking it as truth,” Curran said. “For the most part, kids can be molded into what you want as a team, but you don’t always know what’s going on behind the scenes. A second-line player’s change in attitude, in some respects, can upset a whole team.

“One problem is while we always talk the team concept, we advertise and idolize the individual. The Chicago Bulls are a great basketball team, but many people just think of Michael Jordan.”

High on La Ruffa’s list of red flags is the amount of influence parents and boosters want to wield on a program.

He admits his situation might be different than others. At Fountain Valley, La Ruffa said, it takes between $40,000 and $50,000 a year to maintain the equipment and facilities. Along with boosters who do fund raising, players pay fees of $300 to play on the team.

There is no complaining from parents whose sons are playing regularly; it’s a different story from parents whose sons mainly watch from the bench.

“People feel when they pay for kids to play, they should have a say in who is coaching and what [kind of] coaching,” La Ruffa said. “You can see their point. With youth sports there is guaranteed play time. There’s no such thing in high school; the best kids play. We’re lucky in that our program has been successful. If it stops being successful, I’ll get more of that pressure.”

Demarest concurred.

“Money has changed everything,” he said. “In high school now, everybody is looking for their kid to get a scholarship. I’d like to go back to where kids played for fun and realized every year could be their last. But I’m not sure that can be reversed.

“Are high school sports too big? No, but athletics has branched to where every sport has clubs and AYSO and Connie Mack. If you’re going to be the best, you must keep up with the Joneses. But while the pros are a business and college is becoming a business, high school is not a business. Community support is important at the high school and college level, but that doesn’t mean they can have a say where, perhaps, they shouldn’t.”

But do the players still have fun?

“Yes,” Flint said. “We had a game last year with El Toro that we won, 7-6, in the bottom of seventh, and all 13 runs scored with two outs. We also had a 2-2 game with them that was called after 11 innings. Both were fun. Both were baseball.”

Said La Ruffa: “There are times kids feel pressure, but the advantages still outweigh the negatives. I’m not a big believer that kids are a lot different today; the same things make them happy. And I still think athletics is one of the most important parts of their education.”