Coach Looks for Way Out of Toro Losing Streak

For the last three weeks the Cal State Dominguez Hills baseball team has had a Wing--but no prayer in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn.

As first-year Coach George Wing racks his mind for ways to win games, the Toros have dropped nine straight, on almost every combination imaginable of bad breaks, bad pitches, bad defensive plays and plain bad timing.

It may be instructive of the Toros’ slump that the last time they won a game--and looked like CCAA contenders--was April Fools’ Day. The latest example of everything falling apart came Tuesday when the Toros lost to Cal State Los Angeles, 5-3, in 10 innings. Toros pitching ace Rick Davis pitched well the entire game but lost on a home run.

“Rick was cruising. He threw a good pitch to a good hitter and the guy hit it a long way,” Wing said. “Rick pitched as good as he did when he beat Arizona. They hit a couple of balls that had eyes, one bounces over the third baseman’s glove. That’s the way it’s been going.”

The loss dropped the Toros to 11-22 overall and 6-11 in the CCAA. Davis, one of the top pitching prospects in the Southland, dropped to 5-5, though his earned-run average is under 3.00. His recent record has been sabotaged by key misplays on defense. What’s a coach to do?

Wing still takes the field with a today-could-be-the-day attitude. But sometimes, he acknowledged, he wonders what could go wrong next. In its streak, three of the losses have been by one run, and two have gone into extra innings.

“We’re not getting a break,” Wing said. “We’re hitting the ball hard. Guys are taking good swings. We haven’t been getting a lot of timely hitting, but they’re hitting the ball right on the nose. It’s been very, very frustrating.

“I give a lot of credit to the guys. This team has not packed it in. They go out every day and play with their hearts and play hard. We have remained very competitive.”

Despite the streak, there is still a silver lining: the CCAA race is so jumbled that the Toros are not completely out of it. Because there is no clear-cut leader, last-place Dominguez Hills is only 4 1/3 games behind leader Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, with 13 games left to play. The Toros have a chance to get back in the race when they start a three-game series at San Luis Obispo today.

“They’re leading the pack,” Wing said. “We could--and I still believe it--be a big factor in the conference. It’s a matter of getting the doggone monkey off our back. I want to finish strong. Unless something happens this weekend, that would pretty much write us out of it. We need to put together a good win streak.”

One player who hasn’t slowed down during Dominguez Hills’ slump is slugger Ruben Jauregui, the team’s stocky third baseman. Entering April, Jauregui--who led the CCAA in batting at .408 as a junior--was just reaching the .300 mark. He entered this week at .362 and is battling for another CCAA title. Jauregui has 18 hits in his last 40 at-bats (.450).

“Ruben has stayed hot,” Wing said. “He’s probably one of our few consistent hitters.”

Jauregui, a powerful left-handed batter, has had to sacrifice some power to the Toros’ right field where a strong breeze constantly blows in. So Jauregui has learned to hit to left center with power. “I’ve learned just from watching him,” Wing said. “He’s probably the best opposite-field hitter I’ve ever coached. He’s definitely one of the purest hitters in the conference.”

Jauregui, a senior who starred at Leuzinger High and El Camino College, may have a problem jumping to the pro level because the 6-foot-1, 200-pounder doesn’t run well and doesn’t have a powerful arm.

But Wing said there is no doubting his bat. “If he could find a spot like designated hitter, where he could just go up and take his yaks, he would be perfect,” Wing said. “He’s a great hitter.”

Signings Update: It took several days for all parties to get together, but Loyola Marymount finally signed point guard Tony Walker of Ventura College. He’s one of the few junior college transfers to be signed by Coach Paul Westhead. Walker, a 6-foot-1 sophomore, helped lead high-scoring Ventura to a 28-6 record and the Western States Conference title this season. Walker, who was a few years behind Enoch Simmons at Riverside North High, averaged 8.5 points and was among state leaders in assists at 8.6 per game. Walker shot 49% from the floor this season and 54% as a freshman and reportedly played much of the season with an injured wrist.

He appears to fit Loyola’s running profile. Ventura averaged nearly 90 points and Westhead noted Walker “is a quick and fast point guard who will spearhead our break and help explode the ball down-court.”

Walker joins 6-9 Chris Scott, a preseason signer out of Logan High School near San Francisco, as a Lion recruit.

Another community college standout, Keith Billingslea of Harbor College, has signed with Northern Arizona University, where he’ll join South Bay product Eddie Scott of Morningside High. The 6-3 Billingslea, a Southgate High graduate who attended Fresno State for a year, led Harbor in scoring and was considered one of the top community college guards in the Southland.

The Yanai Pipeline--Dominguez Hills basketball Coach Dave Yanai appears to have one of his best recruiting classes, with four high school signers, and in each case Yanai had an “in.”

The Carson High duo of guard Ray Bennett and forward Vincent Washington were coached by Richard Masson. Bell High standout center Cesar Uballe’s coach was Rod Tange. And Fairfax forward Norm Francis played for Harvey Katani. The connection: Each coach is a former Dominguez Hills assistant under Yanai.

Road Warriors: Perhaps it was just the match-ups last weekend in the West Coast Athletic Conference, but visiting baseball teams won 11 of 12 games and outscored the home teams by 126-31. On the season, five of the seven WCAC teams have better conference records on the road than at home. The only exceptions are league leaders Pepperdine and Loyola, both 4-0 at home and with winning records on the road as well.

College Notes

Loyola outfielder Joe Ciccarella was named West Coast Athletic Conference baseball Player of the Week. The freshman raised his season average to .317 with a 12-for-23 week, including his first collegiate home run . . . Loyola is hitting .347 in WCAC games, raising the overall team average to .323 . . . Miah Bradbury and Travis Tarchione, hitting .385 and .384, have moved into second and third in the WCAC race behind Santa Clara’s Ed Giovanola (.408) . . . Lion Rick Allen continues to lead the WCAC in RBIs with 48 . . . Allen and Tarchione are tied with Santa Clara’s Troy Buckley for the WCAC lead in home runs, eight . . . Tarchione has 43 RBIs while Bradbury has 22 doubles, one short of the school record. . . . The Dominguez Hills golf team, ranked 12th in Division II, will play in the UCLA Invitational on Monday at Industry Hills, then will compete in the NCAA Western Regional in Reno on Wednesday and Thursday . . . Ray Fawcett leads the Toros with an 18-hole average of 78.8, followed by Jeff Manare at 79.7 and Rick Chartrand at 80.8.