Homeless Mission Stopped by Harbor

Mission College, the vagabond of junior college baseball, is still searching for a home to call its own.

The Free Spirit, which has no campus and, therefore, no campus facility, utilizes Valley College for home games--unless, of course, Valley has a home contest scheduled for the same day.

That was the case Tuesday when Mission was forced to entertain top-ranked Harbor at Pierce College while Valley played host to Bakersfield.

Mission lost, 12-5, in a Southern California Athletic Conference game that wasn’t really decided until Ryan Karp blasted a three-run home run in the eighth inning.

Harbor improved to 23-6 and 6-0 in conference play. Mission is 13-7-1 and 5-2.

Mission entered the game battling for first place and while the Free Spirit may not have a home under second-year Coach John Klitsner, it has established residence among the competitive teams in the junior college ranks.

“I think they’re the most improved team in the state from last season,” Harbor Coach Jim O’Brien said of the Free Spirit.

Indeed, Mission was 10-23 overall and 8-12 in conference play last season.

Klitsner, a successful coach at Sylmar High, has turned around Mission’s program by recruiting successfully, teaching fundamentals and forcing his players to take pride in their effort.

The difference in Mission is evident. Billy Picketts, a former standout at College of the Canyons who now plays at Cal State Los Angeles, was in the bleachers Tuesday and flatly stated what everybody already knew: “Mission used to be an automatic win.”

Note the past tense.

The Free Spirit, which launched successful comebacks against East Los Angeles, Valley and Pierce, once again had victory within its grasp against Harbor.

Trailing, 6-3, Mission rallied for two runs in the seventh on consecutive singles by Chris Romo and Shawn Fontenot and a run-scoring single by Rich Ortiz.

Mission reliever Jose Garcia issued consecutive walks to open the eighth before he was chased by Karp, who crushed a pitch over the right-field fence. Harbor added another run in the eighth and two more in the ninth for its final margin of victory.

“We have an experienced team with a lot of sophomores,” O’Brien said. “These guys don’t fold if the game is close or we get behind.”

In defeat, Mission still demonstrated several of the elements that have made the Free Spirit a contender for the playoffs--and possibly a conference title.

Sophomore left-hander Nick Lymberopoulos, who transferred from Canyons, held Harbor hitless for 4 2/3 innings before surrendering a double to Matt Nuez.

Ortiz had three hits and Fontenot had two hits and drove in a run.

Had it been any school except Harbor, probably the deepest team in the state, Mission might have scraped out another victory. But the Free Spirit will get a chance to avenge the defeat when Mission travels to Harbor on Thursday.

Klitsner is confident that his team will continue to improve and that the Free Spirit is no longer a prisoner to its past.

“People are saying Mission isn’t going to quit and you hope that your kids buy into that,” Klitsner said. “I’m not surprised at where we’re at.”