Teammates Are Friendly Rivals Now

Matt Cunningham and Chris Dickerson were pals at Notre Dame High.

Their friendship is being put on hold for a few hours this weekend as Cunningham and the Rice Owls visit Reno to play Dickerson and the Nevada Wolf Pack in a three-game Western Athletic Conference baseball series that began Friday and concludes Sunday.

“I saw Matt at the field [Thursday],” Dickerson said. “They took batting practice before we did. . . . We’ll see each other after the games.”

The get-togethers could easily turn into mutual-admiration events for the freshmen.

Dickerson, a 6-foot-3 left-handed outfielder, is batting .344 and leads the Wolf Pack (20-17) with 33 runs batted in. His 10 home runs are tied for the team and conference lead. He was the WAC’s player of the week after batting .474 with two doubles, a triple, four home runs and 10 RBIs in four games against Texas Christian.

It wasn’t the only productive stint for Dickerson this season. On March 31, he belted a grand slam and had a two-run single to help Nevada defeat Fresno State, 10-7.

“I’ve been in a groove for two or three weeks,” Dickerson said. “Last week I was just getting pitches to hit and the pitchers were making mistakes, and I took advantage.”

Dickerson took a 13-game hitting streak into the series opener against Rice.

Cunningham, a 6-1 catcher, is batting .286 with one home run, six doubles and 19 RBIs. He catches midweek games and is the designated hitter most other games.

“I’m getting more playing time than I thought I would get, so I can’t complain,” Cunningham said.

Cunningham batted .410 with 33 RBIs last season and helped Notre Dame reach the Southern Section Division IV final. Opponents stole only four bases in the regular season against him.

By then, he already had signed with Rice, perennially among the top Division I programs. The Owls (32-9) are ranked No. 5 by Baseball America.

“They saw me play in the Area Code games [in 1999] and word got around that I wanted to go there because they had gone to the [College] World Series that year,” Cunningham said. “A couple of months later, I got a call and they wanted me to come on a recruiting trip.”

Cunningham prepared for college ball by playing for a team in Minot, N.D., in the amateur wood-bat Northwood League last summer.

“I was on my own,” Cunningham said. “I wanted to get a taste of it. I had to get used to doing my own laundry and cooking.”

It took Dickerson a while to adjust to Reno and life away from home.

“The first couple of months I was miserable,” Dickerson said. “I couldn’t stand the place coming from a larger city like Los Angeles. It’s a lot better now. You start meeting people and getting [familiar] with a new atmosphere.”

The two buddies want to win the series, but are pulling for each other.

“I take credit for [Dickerson] playing baseball,” Cunningham said. “Chris was going to concentrate on football and track, but I talked him into playing baseball.”

Cunningham’s father, Tim, was an assistant at Notre Dame before taking over at Harvard-Westlake this season.

“The freshman year [Matt and I] were in the same computer class and we realized we lived down the street from each other,” Dickerson said. “I wasn’t much of a baseball player. One day we went to a park and threw the ball around, and his dad told me I should give baseball a try.”