He’s Bigger, He’s Better, He’s Rivera

On May 24, 1991, a scrawny, wide-eyed sophomore right-hander named Raymond Rivera strode to the mound at Dodger Stadium and helped San Fernando High win its first City baseball title.

Rivera pitched 1 2/3 innings of relief, earning the victory as San Fernando scored in the bottom of the seventh to defeat top-seeded Banning, 3-2.

Two years later, Rivera is better. And bigger.

Now 6-foot-1 and 190 pounds, Rivera might be the best pitcher in the Northwest Valley Conference. He entered the week with a 4-0 record, an earned-run average of 3.17, and all of his team’s victories. Last week he threw a two-hitter in a 4-1 victory over Reseda.

“He would have beaten anybody,” San Fernando Coach Steve Marden said. “Now we have Chatsworth and El Camino Real coming up, and I think he can beat both of them.”

The rest of Marden’s staff--expected to be as strong as any in the conference--isn’t doing as well. Seniors Jorge Gonzales and John Romero haven’t found the groove.

The left-handed Gonzales also pitched in that 1991 final and was expected to be a solid starter this season. Romero was 4-3 with a staff-best ERA of 2.77 a year ago. During last week’s rains, Gonzales and Romero spent time throwing in the school gym under the watchful tutelage of Marden.

The pair looked good. However. . . . “You’ve gotta get it done between the white lines,” Marden said. “That white line is the Great Wall of China to some; it’s just a small line to others. As far as I know, (scouts) don’t sign anybody out of the bullpen.”

NORTHWEST VALLEY CONFERENCE

BASEBALL

Justin Balser, who spent his first two years at El Camino Real behind the plate, is playing third base this season, and it seems more to his liking--especially offensively.

A year ago, during which he batted .290, Balser drove in 15 runs with five doubles and a homer.

He already has matched or eclipsed those marks after eight games. Balser, a senior, entered the week 15 for 29 with three home runs, five doubles and 16 RBIs.

Teammate Dan Cey, 1992 All-City Section 4-A Division shortstop who has driven in a conference-high 19 RBIs, has also eclipsed his total from last year (16).

Through eight games, El Camino Real is 106 for 241 (.439) as a team and has scored 104 runs. . . .

Cleveland outfielder Scott Foli comes from well-established athletic bloodlines. His father, Ernie Foli, played triple-A baseball and was once the boys’ basketball coach at North Hollywood. Scott’s uncle, Tim Foli, starred at Notre Dame High and played in the major leagues for 16 seasons with the New York Mets, Montreal Expos, Pittsburgh Pirates, Angels and New York Yankees. Scott, a senior outfielder, entered the week 10 for 24 (.417).

MARMONTE LEAGUE

BASEBALL

Look for the Simi Valley baseball team to score 17 runs today against visiting Camarillo.

Consider: Simi Valley has crushed four league opponents--Newbury Park, Channel Islands, Westlake and Thousand Oaks--by scores of 13-1, 14-5, 15-0 and 16-1.

“It was just one of those mathematical quirks, and it just had to have happened against us,” Thousand Oaks Coach Jim Hansen said. . . .

Senior Clint Harris of Thousand Oaks, a first baseman and pitcher with a team-high .643 (18 for 28) batting average, will be sidelined for one to three weeks with a separated right shoulder. Harris, a right-hander who is 1-0 and has not allowed an earned run in five innings, stumbled across first base last week against Camarillo and suffered a mild separation, Hansen said.

MISSION LEAGUE

BASEBALL

Crespi right-hander Jeff Suppan’s fastball is about 80 m.p.h., hardly enough to make scouts drool. But there must be some reason he pitches in front of almost as many note pads and radar guns as fans these days.

Consider: Suppan has 31 strikeouts and one walk in 28 innings this season. In his high school and American Legion careers, he has 390 strikeouts and 126 walks in 396 innings, but he’s improved. Since the start of the 1992 high school season, Suppan has 233 strikeouts and 31 walks.

Suppan, who has signed to pitch at UCLA, is 3-1 with an 0.75 ERA. Suppan’s next outing is scheduled against Notre Dame’s Chris Leveque on Saturday at Notre Dame. Leveque is 3-0 with a 1.05 ERA. . . .

Notre Dame’s other starting pitcher, Chris Garza, has improved his control. Garza’s weakness last year was walks--78 in 72 2/3 innings. But so far this season, he has issued just three in 16 1/3 innings.

“My mechanics are pretty much the same, I’ve just gotten mentally tougher,” Garza said. “I’ve forgotten about walks and trying to strike people out.”. . .

Crespi was scheduled to play Notre Dame today at Valley College, but the game was postponed until next Wednesday because a film crew is shooting a movie on the football practice field, next to the baseball diamond. A television movie, “Against the Grain,” is about high school football in Texas. The crew was shooting at nearby Grant High on Monday and Tuesday. . . .

Crespi catcher Casey Snow has played the past two games with seven stitches in his right (throwing) hand. Snow suffered the cut while climbing a fence at Blair Field in Long Beach. Snow was visiting his father, Dave, the coach at Cal State Long Beach. Casey and his brother were playing catch and Casey had to climb a fence to retrieve the ball.

Chaminade lost an exhibition game against a team from Japan, 7-2, on Monday at Chaminade. Eagle Coach Dave Desmond said the Japanese team was “very impressive.”

“It seems like they really take more pride in their defense and really get excited about playing defense more than any high school team I’ve seen around here,” Desmond said. “Another difference is when they get the bunt sign they turn right around and square to bunt before the pitcher gets to the rubber, and (every bunt) is within eight inches of the foul line. No foul balls. I wish we could do that.” . . .

With runners in scoring position, Chaminade third baseman Brian Powers is 10 for 15 with 11 RBIs, and outfielder Adam Crecion is seven for nine with six RBIs. . . . Notre Dame’s Cesar Martinez has 11 stolen bases in 11 attempts, two on pitchouts. Including last season, Martinez has been successful on 31 of his last 32 attempts. . . . Alemany hit six home runs in two victories against Harvard-Westlake last week.

SOFTBALL

When Alemany’s Sophie Contrerras is in the pitching circle, the Indians (8-2) do not lose. It’s that simple. Contrerras (8-0), a sophomore who missed a tournament doubleheader a couple of weeks ago because of other commitments, has been unbeatable. Seven of her victories were shutouts. Three were no-hit performances, including two perfect games. She has 57 strikeouts in 54 innings and has given up 14 hits. “I’ll throw her until her arm falls off,” Coach Dudley Rooney said.

CHANNEL LEAGUE

BASEBALL

Don’t expect Derek Swafford of Ventura to confine himself to handoffs.

Swafford, a Times All-Ventura County tailback who will attend Northwestern on a football scholarship in the fall, is off and running in his fourth varsity season with the school’s baseball team.

Swafford, who plays second base, is batting .385 (10 of 26) with team-high totals of four doubles, one home run, seven RBIs and five stolen bases.

“I’m definitely playing (baseball) at Northwestern,” Swafford said. “We’ve already talked about it.”. . .

Senior right-hander John French of Ventura had a no-hitter through 5 1/3 innings Friday against Dos Pueblos before settling for a four-hitter and a 4-1 victory, his first. Ventura has turned two double plays in each of its last three games, and has committed only one error in its last four.

FOOTHILL LEAGUE

GOLF

Hart’s Matt Steffe, all 6-7 of him, must have a swing plane the size of whirling helicopter blades. And his golfing career is really taking off.

Steffe, a senior and the league’s most valuable player in boys’ basketball, had three consecutive solid rounds entering play this week. He was a collective five-under par in rounds at Almansor Golf Course and Valencia Country Club, then came back last Thursday during a driving rainstorm with a five-over 66 at Vista Valencia Golf Course to earn medalist honors.

He has earned the No. 1 berth at Hart, one of the region’s best teams. All this from a guy who took up the game “about a year and two months ago.”

“I never thought I’d get any (publicity) at all from golf,” Steffe said. “It’s pretty hard to believe.”

GOLDEN LEAGUE

BASEBALL

Antelope Valley stumbled to a 1-5 start and sophomore Johnny Johnson has pitched in each of the team’s first six games. Johnson has lowered his ERA from 9.62 to 5.95. “He’s grown from a puppy to a dog real fast,” Coach Ed t’Sas said.

CAMINO REAL LEAGUE

BASEBALL

St. Genevieve Coach Mike Wagner is expecting Omar Gutierrez and Jose Sandoval to regain academic eligibility next week.

“We did grade checks and they are good so far,” Wagner said. Gutierrez and Sandoval are the Valiants’ top pitchers, and Sandoval is one of the team’s top hitters.

FREE LANCE

BASEBALL

Montclair Prep center fielder Darrell Dent stole seven bases last week against Murphy. That tied him with six other players for the fourth-best single-game total in Southern Section history.

PACIFIC LEAGUE

SOFTBALL

Talk about stingy. Danielle Robertshaw of Crescenta Valley is downright miserly. The sophomore has given up three hits in 41 innings. She has 75 strikeouts in six victories.

Staff writers Steve Elling, Jeff Fletcher, Vince Kowalick and Paige A. Leech contributed to this notebook.

Regional Baseball Top 10

Selected by sportswriters of The Times

Lst. Rk Wk Team League Record 1 1 Simi Valley Marmonte 7-1 2 2 Notre Dame Mission 8-0 3 3 El Camino Real North Valley 8-1 4 4 Crespi Mission 7-1 5 6 Hart Foothill 7-1 6 5 Taft West Valley 7-2 7 7 Buena Channel 7-2 8 8 Kennedy North Valley 7-2 9 NR Hoover Pacific 7-1 10 NR Quartz Hill Golden 6-2

NR--Not ranked.