Oak Park Coach Steps Down to Take Position With Twins

Bill Springman, Oak Park High’s baseball coach the past two seasons, has resigned to become the hitting and infield coach for the Minnesota Twins’ triple-A team in Salt Lake City.

Springman, 40, who guided the Eagles to a 26-15 record and two Tri-Valley League titles, was an assistant coach at Oklahoma from 1982-86 and at Pepperdine from 1988-93.

“It’s too good a situation to pass up,” said Springman, who will report to spring training March 6. “You’re one step from the major leagues, and if I don’t take it now it may never be offered again.”

Coaching change: Rick Hayashida has replaced Bob Ganssle as El Camino Real High’s football coach, Principal Ron Bauer said Thursday.

Bauer would not say why the change was made, only that Ganssle would remain a teacher at the school.

“Bob Ganssle has been a loyal coach for the last three years, but we have made a coaching change,” Bauer said.

Ganssle, who did not return phone calls, had said he planned to come back next season.

The move surprised Hayashida, 34, formerly the Conquistadores’ defensive coordinator.

“Bob and I were planning for next year just over [Christmas vacation],” Hayashida said. “We wanted to get an early start since we were both coaching in the spring. I didn’t expect anything like this to happen.”

In 1994, after Ganssle replaced longtime co-coaches Mike Maio and Ralph Stam, El Camino Real struggled to a 1-9 record. But the Conquistadores have improved each season and advanced to the City Section 4-A Division playoffs last fall.

Newest Matador: Mike Ogaf, an all-state receiver from Rancho Santiago College, said he will transfer to Cal State Northridge. Ogaf, who is 6 feet 3, 195 pounds, caught 46 passes last season for Rancho Santiago.

America’s best: Left-handed pitcher Randy Wolf of Pepperdine is the top-rated player from the region in Baseball America magazine’s list

of major league draft prospects. Wolf, who attended El Camino Real High, is No. 11 among college players.

Jim Parque, a left-handed pitcher from UCLA who attended Crescenta Valley High, is No. 17. Jeff Weaver, a Fresno State right-hander who attended Simi Valley High, is No. 25.

Wolf and Parque are juniors. Weaver is a sophomore but is eligible for the draft because he has been out of high school for three years.

Jon Garland, a right-handed pitcher from Kennedy, is No. 18 on the list of high school prospects. He is the only high school player from the region listed.

Northridge shortstop Adam Kennedy is No. 47 on the college list, followed by third baseman Ryan Hankins (Nevada Las Vegas, Simi Valley High) at No. 68, right-handed pitcher Andrew Shibilo (Pepperdine) at No. 74 and catcher Jon Schaeffer (Stanford, Harvard-Westlake High) at No. 81.

Blacked out: The Northridge men’s basketball team will make its debut in the Big Sky Conference televised game of the week at 7 tonight at Idaho State. But Southern Californians will need a satellite dish to see the game, because it’s on Fox Sports Northwest. The local branch of the network, Fox Sports West, isn’t picking up the game.

Sidelined: Zarinah Tillman of Northridge, the Matadors’ top sprinter as a freshman last year, will miss the indoor and outdoor track seasons because of a lower leg injury that will require vascular surgery.