Suns Get New Board, Corporate Officers

Representatives of the Pacific Suns minor league baseball team announced Tuesday the appointment of new board members and corporate officers in the wake of last week’s resignation of team founder Don DiCarlo.

Oxnard attorney Charles Hack has been named board chairman, and former Vice President Paul Regina is the new president and chief executive officer. Also named to the board were Daniel Schoenwald, an Oxnard businessman; Dave Fowble, owner of a Camarillo trophy and promotional company who has also become the corporation’s chief financial officer; and Rob Fauroat, the team’s ticket sales manager.

“It means we have a fresh, clean slate,” said spokesman Michael Koutnik. “There is some baggage out there that we have inherited. However, we have the ability to create an entirely new game plan.”

The “baggage” includes an unspecified level of debt the ballclub has accumulated, Koutnik said.

He said the new management team has generally been welcomed by fans.

“People at large in Oxnard or the people who have done business with the Suns find it refreshing there’s a new team,” Koutnik said. “I think Don got stale, tired, and was making inappropriate decisions.”

Going into Tuesday night’s game against the Bend Bandits, the Suns were riding a three-game winning streak, its longest of the season.

Di Carlo, his wife, Karen, and father, Tony, resigned from the board and executive positions with the club last week after a power struggle among shareholders over control of what was then the nation’s worst professional ball team.

A players’ strike stemming from nonpayment of wages that resulted in the Suns’ forfeiting a game Thursday was the final straw after weeks of management unrest. A pair of unidentified investors--a husband and wife team from the San Fernando Valley--agreed Friday to finance the team’s $22,000-a-month payroll.