Little Ball at Cal Lutheran

He’s the smallest guy on the team, but that’s no big deal to Ryan Yoshiwara.

Or to the Cal Lutheran baseball brain trust.

“I really like him,” Coach Marty Slimak said. “He probably has the strongest arm in our infield and a great glove. A lot of teams missed out on him because of his size.”

Yoshiwara, 5 feet 7 and 160 pounds, is making everyone notice. The sophomore second baseman from Moorpark High ranks fourth on the team with a .356 batting average and is third with 52 hits.

His 136 assists lead Cal Lutheran and his .970 fielding percentage tops all regulars other than first basemen and catchers.

Kingsmen pitchers will surely appreciate him in the tense games at the NCAA Division III championships in Salem, Va.

The Kingsmen (31-12), in their second consecutive national tournament and fifth in eight years, play Cortland State (35-8) today in a first-round game.

Yoshiwara last year traveled to Salem with the Kingsmen, who were eliminated after two games, but he didn’t play.

“For those of us who have been there before, we are so excited,” Yoshiwara said. “We are confident we are going to win it. . . . I’m physically tired but mentally ready for what’s coming up.”

Just like for his teammates, the pressure is mounting for Yoshiwara, who last weekend was four for 10 and helped the Kingsmen win the West Regional in Georgetown, Texas.

The Kingsmen swept their three games, but hardly had time to celebrate at home. Cal Lutheran returned from Texas late Sunday and left for Salem early Tuesday.

Not that Yoshiwara is complaining, because the opportunity of playing a national title is gravy for someone who was unsure about his baseball future at Moorpark.

Although Yoshiwara was the Frontier League co-most valuable player after batting .452 with 11 doubles in 1997, his senior season, recruiters from four-year schools weren’t camping in his front yard.

“My high school coach [Scott Fullerton] helped me write letters [to colleges],” Yoshiwara said. “Only two responded, and that was Whittier and Cal Lu.

“I didn’t know where I was going to go until I talked to Slimak. I had gone to see a few [Cal Lutheran] games as a senior and it looked like a good team, a good place to play.”

Cal Lutheran is a perennial Division III power and played in the championship game in 1992 and 1996, losing both times to William Paterson of Wayne, N.J.

Yoshiwara’s college season will be over next week, but he will play on Sundays in the summer for the San Fernando Aces of the Japanese American baseball circuit in the Valley and Los Angeles.

Japanese leagues surfaced around the Southland in the 1920s and 1930s, and even continued during World War II internment camps. Future generations, like Yoshiwara’s, have carried on the tradition.

Yoshiwara started playing with the Aces after finishing high school, following the footsteps of his father, Dean, and grandfather, Ted, both former catchers.

“There’s no pressure,” Yoshiwara said.

A well-deserved break after this weekend.