Youth Movement : Underclassmen Provide the Push for Loyola Marymount Baseball Team’s Perfect League Record

College coaches like to say that the best thing about freshmen is that they become sophomores, and sophomores become juniors.

But if Loyola Marymount’s young baseball players continue to progress the way they have this season, the thought that they will be back as sophomores and juniors has to be a nightmare for opposing coaches.

The Lions’ nonconference showdown with Cal State Fullerton was rained out Wednesday, so they resume West Coast Athletic Conference play Friday at Nevada-Reno with a 39-10 record.

Loyola continues to be paced by upperclassmen like Don Sparks (.395, 53 RBI) and Travis Tarchione (.374, 47 RBI). But the hot players for the No. 7 Lions lately have included freshmen Tim Williams and Mike McNary and sophomores Greg Wall, Miah Bradbury and Steve Surico.

Last weekend against St. Mary’s, Williams, an outfielder/first baseman, hit a home run and McNary, a right-handed pitcher, hurled a shutout to improve to 7-2.

Coach Dave Snow has let them play and patiently brought them around, and the young players are starting to come through, helping Loyola forge a 12-0 league record.

“I’ve had a track record of bringing freshmen in and playing them,” Snow said. “Every year, we’ve probably had two or three freshmen come in and play a lot. Williams is platooning. McNary has been in the lineup from the start of the season. I felt like these guys were going to get a good opportunity, and we were going to grow with them.”

Wall, a first baseman who started out slowly, raised his season average to .333 over the weekend with a flurry of hits including a grand slam.

“That was a big weekend for him,” Snow said. “He hit the ball all over the park. That’s what we want to see in him.”

Bradbury, a rangy catcher who missed a month with an injury, has come back with a vengeance. He’s hitting .341 for the season but is 17 for 27 in league play, a .630 average.

Surico, a hard-throwing left-hander, had to leave his game after two innings last week with a sore back but is expected to pitch Sunday in Reno. Bouncing back from an injury-plagued freshman year, he’s 9-0 with 69 strikeouts in 72 innings.

McNary and Williams were the cornerstones of Snow’s recruiting last spring. Williams, a compact 5-9, 170 pounds, set home-run records at St. Bernard High on his way to winning CIF 1-A honors as player of the year. McNary hardly looks overpowering at 5-8, 150 pounds, but he was 4-A player of the year at Lakewood High.

Williams struggled early this season but has raised his average to .276, with 2 home runs and 22 runs batted in, playing in 43 of the Lions’ 49 games. In the second game of the double-header on Saturday, the left-hitting Williams came up in the third with two men on and drove a fast ball on a rising line to right-center. The long three-run homer nearly cleared the center-field scoreboard.

But Snow said he is not looking for home runs from Williams, at least not at this stage of his career.

“He’s swinging good. Now he seems to be swinging a lot more consistently,” Snow said. “That was a big weekend for his confidence. He does have power, (but) we don’t really emphasize that with him. We want him to be more of a contact hitter and keep his swing more consistent.”

McNary, who will start Friday, is 3-0 in WCAC games and leads the team in innings pitched (88) and strikeouts (75). He also has a save to go with his 4.29 earned run average (2.41 in WCAC).

Snow said McNary “has made the transition pretty well going from high school to college. His competitiveness is outstanding. He really loves to pitch. He’s getting more confident as the year goes on.”

Snow said McNary is “sneaky fast” and he has developed a good change-up, a pitch he didn’t have in high school. McNary also has the ability to pitch with accuracy in tight spots. “He’s able to get the ball down and away (for strikes) when he wants to,” Snow noted.

If the Lions stay on course, Loyola may be taking another trip to the NCAA regionals and, perhaps, the College World Series.

“We’re about where we want to be,” Snow said. That’s what thinking young will do.