Alcalá 1986

John Cunningham, enrering his 2,rd season as head coach of rhe l · niver 1q· of an Diego baseball program, fidded his youngest team ever as he tried ro improve on laM year\ 17-\9-1 record. Coach Cunningham, wirh a career mark of -192-489- lO. returned dev<:n lettermen and six srarrers. The '86 squad had a lot of new faces. includ - ing r<:n fre hmen. The rest of rhe squad was made up of four sophomores. five 1uniors and five senior Although l 'SD lost seven lettermen w graduation. rhe key player ro replace was ·a~ rt:am M.V.P. Paul Van tone. Yan Stone. who was drafted by the an Francisco Giants. lt:d l' D in hitting ( \05 ). ar bars (lo,), hits (62 ). RBJ"s ( ¥>) and rmal ba e ( HH ). Our of the six starters back, senior cenrerfield David Jacas was one of the: key plal'ers to warch. David barred .l'-"1-) last p.,ar and led rhe ream in runs scored (47 J and stolen bases ( 2-1). ophomore Mark Trafton ( .298 B.A.. 8 HR 's) and Sean Baron (22<)1 B.A.. 7 HR' ). two of rhe better 1·oung power hitters in the: WCAC. would improve on their ·a~ totals. Junior shortstop Robbie Rogen ( .288 B.A.. 8 triples) was stronger and quicker. and provided rhe leadership necessar1 in the infield, while sophomore David Rolls (.25·1 B.A.) returned at third base. John taught, scarring his fourth season as a Torero. saw action in nghcfield enior Tom Si1er was l 'SD's onh returning pitcher that started more rhan 10 games in "85. Coach Cunning· ham was looking for improved pcrformanet·s from Siler and senior Mike David. Top newcomers to the pitching

BASEBALL

corp include JC transfor D.in Newman and freshman John Bonilla. A couple of leepcr on the mound were freshmen Jim Westlund and Tony Bartilcga. Ju111or catcher Dan Echcvcste { .210 B.A.) was pur co the test early by freshman recruit Chuch Graham. Two newcomer rhat soltd,ficd rhc infield included JC transfer John Holr and fre hman ,ccond ba eman Andy Rob– ert\. t ·, D. which played a school n:cord ,5 home game rh1s pJst sea on. prepared for WCAC arnon with tough nonconforcnce opponents like Fresno race (, games). ·an Diego State (2 games). l.'C Irvine (2 games) and D1v1'10n II power\ C ·orthridge and l 'C Riverside. Co.ich Cunningham felt that unnl omebody knocked them off. Peppcrdine wa again the league favonte. The two clubs that looked vastly improved were Loyola Maymounr and anta Clara t. Mary' was to have the league's best player in reliever Ken R1ensche. Ar the beginning of the season, Coach Cunningham tatts. ·we finished last a year ago. I would consider 11 a uccc:ssful season 1f we rnd up in the middle of rhc: WCAC pack this season. Thi 1s the younge r team I've ever had. and it's hard co predict rhe players transmon from high school to college ball. There i a definite po,s1h1ltty rhat six of our nine starter could be freshmen and sophomore . Thar I awful young for a four year school. An advantage over lase year 1s a b<:m:r balance between right and left handed h11ting We could haw four kit handed hmcr m our lineup We haven't had that capab,hcy m a while. Youth could work m our advanragc this season. We're going to give these fresh. men a chance to play and hopefully b · league we'll have ~,me ub1ltty in our lineup. ·porr 127