U.S. OLYMPIC FESTIVAL : Hart’s Lorraine Going Places With His Baseball Talent

MINNEAPOLIS —  How far can a single arm propel someone who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 190 pounds?

If it is the left arm of Andrew Lorraine, the answer is very far.

Lorraine, a Stanford-bound pitcher from Hart High, is a frequent flier among youth baseball players.

Which isn’t bad for a kid who comes from a family with next to nothing in the way of an athletic background.

Lorraine, 17, recalls sending a Father’s Day card to his dad, Mike, that read: “Thanks to the person who taught me everything I know about baseball.”

Inside it said: “That’s OK, coach straightened me out.”

But, boy, can baseball mess up a casual summer.

The past three years, Lorraine has traveled to Nevada, Ohio, Indiana, Florida and, finally, Minnesota, where he is scheduled to start for the West tonight at 5 (PDT) in the U. S. Olympic Festival gold-medal game against the North.

A steady rain forced the championship game to be postponed Wednesday. If today’s game is postponed, Lorraine could be in a dilemma.

On Friday, he is scheduled to leave for Cedar Rapids, Iowa, site of tryouts for the U.S. Junior team.

His first stop in Cedar Rapids: The Field of Dreams. Really.

The 23 players who have been invited to try out will go through workouts on the same field that was the backdrop for the hit movie.

Lorraine, who had an 0.91 earned-run average for Hart last season, is among nine pitchers fighting for seven spots.

If he is not one of the final seven, Lorraine says there will be minimal disappointment.

“It’s really an honor being one of the 23 best players,” he said. “It was a special feeling when it was announced, sort of like when Jackie Joyner came out with the torch (at the Festival’s opening ceremonies). It sent chills through my body.

“It’s one thing to have a ‘West’ (on one’s uniform), but to have ‘USA’--that’s real special, when you’re playing for your country.”

It is one of the many uniforms he has worn.

Lorraine started the summer by pitching in the Daily News all-star game, which was followed by a stint on the South squad that played the North in a state all-star series.

When that was over, the best players combined to form a state all-star team that competed at a tournament in Florida. A few days after that ended, he was off to the Festival.

He should have planned on such a schedule, considering the way his summer started.

“I got home from Grad Night just before 6 a.m., just in time to leave for the airport to catch an 8:15 plane for Florida,” Lorraine said.

He hasn’t stopped since, picking up pointers along the way.

For instance, in his first appearance in the state all-star series, Lorraine learned what it was like, in his words, to “get drilled.”

In his only start, he gave up six hits and three runs in the first inning.

“I never had my fastball hit like that before,” Lorraine said. “That inning I learned that I was going to have to mix it up and hit my spots.”

He learned fast. Over the next five innings, he allowed one hit.

Lorraine’s trip to Florida also was an educational experience. But for a different reason.

“That was the worst weather I’ve played in in my entire life,” he said. “You sit there and watch a game and you sweat. It was terrible.”

Still, in his only start, Lorraine pitched a seven-inning, two-hit shutout.

At the Festival, all three of Lorraine’s appearances have been in relief, a role in which he totaled six saves last season.

In his first two outings, both exhibition games, Lorraine gave up two hits and struck out 11 in six innings.

His debut came against an overmatched American Legion all-star team from Minnesota.

“It was basically like if you throw strikes, they’re not going to hit you,” Lorraine said. He did and they didn’t. He struck out six and allowed no hits in three innings.

In Lorraine’s second appearance, against the University of Minnesota, he allowed two hits--”both hanging curveballs”--and struck out five.

Last Saturday, in the first game that counted, Lorraine relieved with two out and the tying run on second base.

He struck out the batter to end the inning, then allowed only a walk over the final three innings to record a save.

Lorraine said he prefers to start, but he also likes coming in from the bullpen to stop a rally.

“I like having the game be my game, under my control,” Lorraine said. “But at the same time, I like the idea of pitching in front of a big, excited crowd and shutting them up. That’s kind of fun.”

It could happen next in Cuba if Lorraine joins the USA Juniors. The team will play in the World Youth Championships there beginning Aug. 24.

And if the U.S. advances to the final, Lorraine will probably get back home Sept. 6--or about two weeks before he must leave to enroll at Stanford.

“That’s weird, that the whole summer would be just traveling around, playing baseball and having fun,” Lorraine said. “I hadn’t thought about it like that.”