2011 BASEBALL PREVIEW Artesia, Cerritos, hope for turnaround seasons

By Loren Kopff

With the exception of Gahr, which is always a sure lock to advance to the California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section playoffs, this particular area has seen a near playoff drought with most of the teams. Since the turn of the century, Artesia, Cerritos, John Glenn and Norwalk have combined to reach the playoffs 11 times. This season, expect more area teams to get back to the promise land.
ARTESIA PIONEERS (9-16 overall last seasons, 5-7 in the Suburban League, fifth place)
Head coach: Michael Gaoghagen (ninth season, 90-121-1)
Team’s record previous five seasons: 44-84-1
Last time made the playoffs: 2007
Key losses: Abel Chavez, Tyler Guerra, Anthony Johnson, Jeff Samreth, Giovanni Vidal
Projected starting lineup:
P-Osbaldo DeLaRosa (SR)/Jose Esparza (SR)/Jeff Gunter (SR)/Gary Smith (JR)
C-Gunter/Esparza
1B-Sean Taylor (SR)
2B-Effrain Huizar (JR)/Cesar Soto (JR)/DeLaRosa/Esparza
3B-Soto/DeLaRosa/Tommy Corrales (SO)
SS-DeLaRosa/Soto
OF-TBA
OF-Jhovanny Ortiz (SR)
OF-Smith
Since the Pioneers last went to the playoffs, they have been built around young teams. The seniors of this season’s team went through a 3-22-1 campaign as freshmen and now they are hungry to go out with a bang.
“We expected to make the playoffs [last season], we didn’t make the playoffs and that was disappointing,” Gaoghagen said. “Basically we were one play away from making the playoffs. We still have a good group of players where we should feel we can compete. I think it’s going to come down to pretty much our heart and our willingness to work hard.”
There haven’t been a lot of strengths with the Pioneers lately but if there is one for 2011, it has to be pitching and it begins with DeLaRosa. He may not throw a lot of strikes or dazzle you with his speed, but he does do enough to win games, especially the 1-0 or 2-1 contests. Esparza and Gunter complement him on the mound.
Artesia will have to rely on its pitching because there simply isn’t enough hitting. The entire infield returns from last season but the weakness will come from the outfield where Ortiz is the only one with some experience. Left field is still up in the air.
The Pioneers have improved each season since 2008 and were in the playoff hunt in the last week of the regular season in 2010. Now, the Pioneers hope the seniors can lead the new generation to the playoffs.
“We have enough talent to make the playoffs,” Gaoghagen said. “But we can be anywhere in the seven spots.”
CERRITOS DONS (6-20 overall last season, 2-10 in the Suburban League, sixth place)
Head coach: Chris Aquino (first season)
Team’s record previous five seasons: 34-93-2
Last time made the playoffs: 1998
Key losses: Travis Crammer, Rajean Daily, Richard Jaramillo, Matt Kamiyama, Marquis Kidd, Kevin Lee
Projected starting lineup:
P-Christian Price (SR)/Kevin Anderson (JR)/Andrew Ortega (SO)/Brian Diaz (JR)/Omar Rodriguez (SO)
C-Matt Villalba (SR)
1B-Kevin Vaca (SR)
2B-Juan Rodriguez (FR)
3B-Omar Rodriguez/Price
SS-Jonathan Mura (JR)
OF-Ortega
OF-Diaz
OF-Keenan Parra (JR)
The area team with the longest playoff drought welcomes in Aquino as the school’s third head coach since 2002. Aquino, a graduate of St. John Bosco High School, coached at Cal Poly Pomona last year and before that, was the pitching coach at his alma mater. He inherits a program that has won seven or fewer games in eight of the last nine seasons.
“I’m pretty excited about it,” Aquino said. “It’s a team that I wanted to rebuild a program around. I’ve come from successful programs and I want to teach these kids how to win. I think the City of Cerritos deserves a playoff team.”
The Dons took a major hit in the pitching department with the graduation of Daily but hopes to get solid performances from Anderson and Price, the latter with the most varsity experience. The infield is entirely new as Vaca was the team’s designated hitter last season and brings the biggest bat to the Cerritos lineup. He led the Dons with a .412 batting average last season. Anderson and sophomore Jake Liang will share the DH job this season.
Aquino says he is counting on his three top seniors-Price, Vaca and Villalba to bring their leadership and experience to the rest of the team.
“The kids just needed more confidence and they needed to learn the game a little bit more and pretty much the fundamentals,” Aquino said. “A lot of the good teams are fundamentally sound and that’s what I’m trying to teach them.”

Next week:
Gahr, John Glenn, Norwalk, and
Valley Christian.