Villarreal Has Rustlers Going in Right Direction

Bert Villarreal, the Golden West baseball coach, didn’t talk to his players before the season about a specific goals.

No discussion of how many games they should win or setting a standard for batting averages.

Instead, Villarreal’s aim was much more important.

“Our whole objective,” he said, “is to gain some respect. It’s been on the agenda from the start.”

There was a time that Golden West was one of the better programs in Southern California, but the Rustlers last made the playoffs in 1990.

But there have been encouraging signs this season.

Golden West is 11-8 overall and 4-5 in the Orange Empire Conference, which has produced six state champions since 1991.

The Rustlers’ record might not sound all that impressive until one considers that Golden West won only five conference games last season and the fifth victory came on the final day of the season. Golden West also was 13-29 last season.

“This group just plays the game very hard,” Villarreal said. “The games where we haven’t played well it’s been because we haven’t played defense.”

Villarreal credits first-year assistant John Hockenberry with improvement of the hitters.

Golden West is batting .319 and has 16 home runs in 19 games. The Rustlers hit .279 with 10 home runs in 42 games last season.

Sophomore first baseman Kevin Stewart (.357) has a team-high four home runs and is tied with sophomore third baseman Eric Albright for the team lead in runs batted in (16). Jeff Jones, a freshman outfielder, has three homers and 15 RBIs.

Offense is only half the story at Golden West.

The pitching staff’s earned-run average is 4.29, which might seem high, but is about 1.50 lower than last year.

Sophomore right-hander Cory Carr is 3-0 and freshman right-hander Chad Spiker is 3-2.

“It’s fun to be competitive again,” Villarreal said, “This is really a cohesive group so far. That’s the one thing we keep telling them. They have to stay together and don’t start to peel apart.”