Hernandez Cuts Back for Well-Armed Sylmar

Sylmar High may not be winning the East Valley League baseball derby, but the Spartans are winning the arms race.

With last season in mind, Ivan Hernandez, the Spartans’ ace, is not pitching nearly as much to keep his arm strong.

Hernandez pitched in 16 of Sylmar’s 29 games last year and had a sore arm after appearing in three consecutive playoff games. Now, he is spending less time on the mound and more time as a designated hitter.

“We’re trying to save him,” Sylmar Coach Gary Donatella said. “It seemed like we threw him a few too many times last year, so we’re trying to develop some of our other pitchers.”

Hernandez’s appearances, and his statistics, are down.

Hernandez, who has signed with Cal State Northridge, last year finished with an 11-2 record, a 1.95 earned-run average and 125 strikeouts in 86 1/3 innings.

This year, he is 4-2 with a 1.98 ERA and 53 strikeouts in 35 1/3 innings.

“They’re just numbers,” he said. “They don’t really matter to me.”

Hernandez was told to prepare for the final push as the Spartans (13-5, 7-2 in league play) chase Poly (17-5, 10-0) and Grant (15-4, 9-1).

The Spartans have eight regular-season games to play, giving Hernandez about three more starts before the playoffs begin on June 1.

“Coach said he’s going to start using me more,” Hernandez said. “I’m ready to be the workhorse of the team. I’m ready for it.”

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On the inside of his Chaminade cap, senior outfielder Spencer Gordon has written: “Now or never.”

That’s his attitude for this season and what a season he’s having. After going eight for eight last week with three home runs and 14 runs batted in, Gordon has 10 home runs, 44 RBIs and a .441 average.

“We knew he had it in him,” Coach Scott Drootin said. “Whatever the reason, he’s doing everything that I thought he could do. I think he just said, ‘Hey, I’m a senior, it’s time to step up.’ ”

Gordon, who was a top hitter for Northridge Little League’s 1994 World Series team, has been on the varsity since he was a sophomore. But he had not produced consistently until this season.

He was selected team captain and is providing leadership on a young squad that is 15-4, 4-2 in the Mission League going into two important games against Crespi this week.

“I need to lead by example, and I’m finally doing that,” Gordon said. “The last couple of years were frustrating. I didn’t put up the numbers I wanted to.”

With Gordon on a hitting rampage, Chaminade trails league co-leaders Notre Dame and Crespi by one game in the loss column.

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Richie Martin, a sophomore right fielder at Valencia, leads the region with 13 home runs. The question is, who’s Richie Martin?

“He’s got amazing power for a sophomore,” said assistant Casey Burrill of the 6-foot, 190-pounder.

Of Martin’s 21 hits, 15 are for extra bases. He’s batting .389 with 36 RBIs.

“I haven’t seen anything like this,” Burrill said of Martin’s power barrage.

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Littlerock sluggers Delwyn Young and Michael Arvizo can’t stop one-upping each other in a home run race.

Young leads the Lobos with 10 home runs and Arvizo has nine.

“We kind of have our own version of Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire,” Coach Dennis Henderson said. “Arvizo will catch him and then Delwyn will hit one in his last at-bat of the game.”

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Three teams in the Valley Pac-8 Conference--Poly, Grant and Sylmar--are a combined 45-14 this season, but complain that they get no respect compared to Northwest Valley powers Chatsworth (15-3), El Camino Real (14-4) and Granada Hills (14-4).

The reason for the slight is simple: Strength of schedule.

The East Valley League teams’ records are inflated because they play eight games against weak Mid-Valley League competition. Poly (17-5), Grant (15-4) and Sylmar (13-5) are a combined 22-1 against Monroe, Van Nuys, Reseda and Canoga Park. Add three games against a struggling North Hollywood team, and that’s 11 potential victories against questionable competition.

Poly is on a 12-game winning streak and hasn’t lost since March 27. But the Parrots haven’t defeated a top 10 team. They lost to Palmdale, Westlake, Thousand Oaks, El Camino Real and Birmingham. Sylmar defeated Rio Mesa, which is 16-6, but lost to Chatsworth, Saugus and Van Nuys. Grant lost to Notre Dame and Sylmar.

It should create for lots of intrigue when the City playoffs begin on June 1 and East Valley teams get a chance to prove that their glittering records are no fluke.

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Chatsworth Coach Tom Meusborn could be mellowing in his 10th season as coach. Three of his pitchers--Scott Sellz, Ryan Robbins and Mike Kunes--bleached their hair red, blue and white last week.

Said assistant Matt LaCour, who played for Meusborn in 1992: “Back when I played, we weren’t allowed on the field without short, normal hair. He’s [Meusborn] getting soft.”

Asked about bleaching his hair red, Sellz said, “Pitchers are weird.”

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Crespi Coach Scott Muckey said he is not planning to use pitcher Tim Leveque this week against Chaminade. Leveque has been sidelined since coming out of a game against Notre Dame on April 14 because of discomfort in his right elbow.

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Pacific View League opponents will have a tough time narrowing Camarillo’s two-game lead.

In 19 games, the Scorpions have hit 26 home runs, averaged 11.3 hits and outscored opponents, 180-65.

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Pitcher Ernie Borjas of Rio Mesa needed help from the “Lost and Found Dept.” in his start against Hueneme last week.

Borjas (6-2), who allowed only one run through four innings, allowed four runs in the fifth and another run in the sixth before Coach Rich Duran rescued him.

Greg Ramirez replaced Borjas in the sixth with two out and struck out the only batter he faced.

Borjas pitched the seventh inning after Duran figured he had fixed the problem.

“[Borjas] lost his concentration and I got it back,” Duran cracked.

Facing all but one batter, Borjas allowed six hits, struck out 10 and walked three in the Spartans’ 12-7 victory.

Staff writers Mike Bresnahan, Paige A. Leech and Eric Sondheimer contributed to this notebook.