Mystery Man Donates $3,000 to USIU Team

U.S. International baseball Coach George Kachigian felt like he hit the jackpot after his team returned from a trip that produced a 3-1 victory Saturday over UCLA. But not because of the Gulls’ unlikely victory over the Bruins.

Before USIU departed for Westwood, the coach got a call from an Orange County man who had read that the Gulls were in desperate need of funds to keep from folding the team before season’s end. The caller arranged a rendezvous. So, heading up Interstate 5, USIU’s two-van caravan took a quick detour, exited at Alicia Parkway in Mission Viejo and pulled into the parking lot of a nearby Target store.

A man driving a black Ferrari pulled up and identified himself as Dan Hernandez. Then he wrote out a personal check for $3,000. The coach said he told Hernandez that he felt like kissing him, but his players wouldn’t understand.

“I knew the guy was going to give us some money,” Kachigian said, “but I had no idea how much. I was almost speechless. I asked him why he was doing it. He said, ‘Well, you guys are in trouble and you need help. I’m capable of helping you.’ ”

Baseball is the only spring sport at USIU still operating, and that is only because Kachigian made a promise to the university’s trustees that the team would pay its own way. Since then, the Gulls (5-7) have raised $20,000 of the $24,000 they need. They haven’t gotten off to a bad start on the field, either. Saturday’s victory over the Bruins, ranked 30th in the nation by Collegiate Baseball/ESPN, was USIU’s biggest so far.

Kachigian, who is not getting paid, has dedicated the 1991 season in large part to showcasing his players for other schools and professional scouts. Kachigian, who once scouted for the Chicago Cubs, said there has been little support outside the baseball community but that help from within has been tremendous.

Former Padre general manager and field manager Jack McKeon has made motivational speeches. One major league player, who wishes anonymity, matched Hernandez $3,000 offering. And a recent “USIU Night” at Telly’s Sports Bar produced another $2,000. Other prominent donors have been parents, alumni and Kachigian’s old scouting buddies.

Then there’s Hernandez, who seemed to come riding up like a saint out of right field.

Said Kachigian: “I didn’t think they had guys who wore white hats and rode white horses anymore.”

Don’t be surprised: Mesa College’s women’s basketball team will open the 16-team Community College Regional Tournament tonight at Moorpark seeded 13th. But don’t be surprised if the Olympians (14-12) come away with an upset against Moorpark, which is 28-4 and seeded fourth. Coach Lisa Williams said her team just got off to a slow start.

“I’ve got an extreme amount of talent, but it didn’t come together until we got into conference,” Williams said of her Olympians, who finished 7-1 and tied Southwestern for the Pacific Coast Conference championship.

Mesa can be downright destructive when it wants to be. At mid-season, the Olympians beat Palomar, 103-25, as Rachelle Johnson, a 5-foot-10 freshman center-forward from Patrick Henry, tied a county record with 45 points. Johnson, the PCC’s most valuable player, finished fourth in the state in scoring (22.2 ppg) and third in rebounding (13.8).

Williams called Johnson one of three Division I-caliber players on Mesa’s roster. The others are 5-9 guard Sorii Epps (Patrick Henry), who finished 18th in the state in scoring (17.9 ppg.) and 5-10 forward Pamm Ross (Serra), both freshmen.

Johnson, Epps, Ross and freshman Serena Timmons (Point Loma) were named All-PCC this week, as were guard Michelle Mendoza, forward Monica Vargas and center Melody McBride of 15th-seeded Southwestern. Southwestern (15-10) plays at No. 2 Los Angeles Valley (28-4) tonight. But Mesa, with Johnson and Epps on their games, could be the surprise of the playoffs.

“Rachelle and Sorii are so talented,” said Williams, “they can do things that you and I only dream about.”

SDSU inherits tourney: The Aztec women’s softball team will host the SDSU Spring Classic at Kit Carson Park in Escondido Thursday through Sunday. The seven-team tournament, which will draw traditionally strong Long Beach State, California and Cal State Northridge among others, was originally the USIU Softball Classic.

Maybe it’s only fair, at least from SDSU’s standpoint. SDSU was set to host a similar tournament last year, but it was rained out.

Minnesota, Northwestern and Utah State will round out the field.

Great second shot: Point Loma Nazarene’s Shannon Abrams suggests that divine intervention is the reason she’s playing basketball. The senior forward broke her shooting hand in a game at midseason and the prognosis was that she would be sidelined up to eight weeks.

However, she was back in four and last week scored 55 points and had 29 rebounds in two games, including a season-high 34 and 21 against Christ College Irvine.

“I was telling myself it can’t be broken,” Abrams said of the injury. “But the doctor said, ‘It’s your senior year. If the bone calluses we’ll take the cast off.’ So I went in to get it checked every week.”