Cal Lutheran Replaces Pitchers

THOUSAND OAKS —  Cal Lutheran baseball Coach Marty Slimak spent the past off-season mulling over the following two numbers: 2.91 and 10.70.

The first is the combined earned-run average of aces Sam Arroyo and Marc Weiss in the best-of-five NCAA Division III West Regional last spring against UC San Diego.

The second is the rest of the staff’s ERA.

Not surprisingly, after Weiss and Arroyo won the first two games of the series, the Kingsmen lost the next three. Despite a 31-9-1 record, Cal Lutheran went home, while UC San Diego advanced to the Division III World Series.

With that debacle in mind, Slimak made a concerted effort to add pitching depth, particularly since Weiss signed with the Cincinnati Reds and Arroyo graduated.

Slimak had 18 pitchers at the team’s first meeting in the fall, and last week he still had 16 on the roster. He said he will pick about 10 for the staff.

“If you can have 16 kids to start off with, golly, at least you have something to choose from,” Slimak said. “Whether they’re any good I don’t know. We’ll find out.”

Slimak will begin the process of sifting through his pitchers when the Kingsmen, eighth-ranked in the nation in Division III, open their season today with a game at 2:30 p.m. at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. San Luis Obispo, a perennial Division II power, moved into Division I this season.

“We’ll be thrown right into the fire,” said Slimak, beginning his second year as head coach.

Cal Lutheran’s ace as the season begins is junior right-hander David Jaglowski (5-2, 7.10 ERA last season).

Three of the top candidates to join Jaglowski in the rotation are junior college transfers: right-hander Craig Arnold (4-4, 4.04 ERA last year at Oxnard College), right-hander Jessie Melgoza (5-3, 3.10 at Los Angeles City) and left-hander Carlos Garibay (2-0, 1.35 at Harbor).

Slimak said he will also give a long look to a pair of freshmen right-handers--L.A. Baptist’s Matt Hernandez, who was 9-2 with a 1.47 ERA and earned the Alpha League’s most valuable player award last season, and Moorpark’s Brian Garrettson, who was 9-0 with a 2.37 ERA for the Musketeers his senior year.

Slimak will be trying new faces all around the lineup.

The only returning starters are slugging first baseman John Becker and designated hitter Kirk Fellows. Six days before today’s opener, Slimak was still unsure who will be his catcher and second baseman.

But he didn’t seem too concerned.

“When it comes down to it, I want to have the best team out there on Feb. 17, when we play the University of La Verne (in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener),” Slimak said. “I can beat every Division I school and NAIA school, but if I don’t win the SCIAC, we are going to be just sitting around (during the playoffs) in May.

“I will find out in the next three weeks, before we open up with La Verne, who are going to be the kids that I believe are going to help us win a SCIAC championship for the fourth straight year.”

Becker, who will move from cleanup to the No. 3 spot this year, hit .368 with 14 home runs and 44 runs batted in last season. He was eight for 20 with 11 RBIs and four home runs in five playoff games.

“He’s going to make our team go in run production and leadership,” Slimak said.

Fellows (.347, one home run, 16 RBIs) will bat cleanup.

Slimak considers his outfield to be another team strength. From left to right, the starters will be Jeff Marks, Chad Miyata and Ray Arvisu. Although all three are seniors, they started a total of 20 games last season.

Richard Hernandez, a sophomore from Moorpark High via the University of Arizona, will start at shortstop. The 1993 Frontier League co-player of the year, Hernandez went to Arizona but left school after fall baseball. He enrolled at Cal Lutheran and started two games last spring.

Junior Chad Sixt, who played the past two seasons for the Cal Lutheran junior varsity, is the likely starter at third base, Slimak said.

Because of a lack of experience around the diamond, the Kingsmen are not outright favorites for their fourth straight SCIAC title. Pomona-Pitzer, which finished second last season, returns all its key players, including junior shortstop Emiliano Escandon, the conference player of the year in 1994.

The Kingsmen face Pomona-Pitzer in the final SCIAC series of the season, April 28-29.

In addition to Pomona-Pitzer, other teams likely to challenge Cal Lutheran for the two spots in the Division III West Regional are UC San Diego and Chapman. The Kingsmen face both teams at home and away during the regular season.