L.A. Baptist Hopes to Put Football in Good Hands

A smorgasbord of notes, quotes and opinions from across the San Fernando Valley and surrounding communities:

First-year football coach Gregg Frazer of L.A. Baptist should be doing cartwheels after the school’s best athlete, Andrew Petersen, decided to go out for wide receiver as a senior.

Petersen, the Knights’ starting shortstop in baseball and a guard in basketball, finally convinced his parents to let him try football.

“When I’d sit there at the football games and I’d come home and hint I wanted to play, [my parents] always said, ‘No, no, no,’ ” he said.

Frazer said Petersen reminds him of Jim Romero and Tim Feirfeil, two of the best receivers in L.A. Baptist history.

“He’s got Romero and Feirfeil instincts, speed and talent,” Frazer said. “How good he’ll be depends on how quickly things fall in place. He’s good, but he’s raw.”

Baseball remains Petersen’s first love, but football has always intrigued him.

“I’m having a blast with passing league,” he said.

The next question is whether his brother, Bryan, a promising freshman pitcher, will give football a chance before his senior year. He better start being nice to Mom and Dad. . . .

Mike Kunes, former Chatsworth pitcher who is a sophomore at UCLA, has been one of the top pitchers in the wood-bat Northwood League this summer. He is 4-1 with a 1.43 earned-run average for St. Cloud, Minn.

Kunes won a pie-eating contest held in the sixth inning of a game, devouring a peach pie in 30 seconds.

His summer consists of playing baseball at night and playing golf in the afternoon. “It’s a hard life,” he said.

He frequents one of the half-dozen tanning salons in the area to keep his Southern California look. “I’m a regular,” he said. . . .

An unsung hero for the Van Nuys Show Ball American Legion team is 14-year-old pitcher Daniel Rodarte, a sophomore at Notre Dame.

Rodarte helped Van Nuys win the Area 6 championship, pitching a four-hitter in a 13-4 victory over Ojai-Santa Paula in an elimination game Sunday.

“He was pretty special,” Coach Jody Breeden of Van Nuys said. “He gets better every game.” . . .

In the Area 6 championship game, Chatsworth fans were making lots of noise at UCLA’s Jackie Robinson Stadium by putting coins in soda cans and shaking them, much to the chagrin of Van Nuys supporters.

Said one Chatsworth fan: “If nothing else, we can send them to Yountville with ringing in their ears.” . . .

Jim Wolf celebrated his 31st birthday Monday. The former El Camino Real catcher once dreamed of reaching the major leagues as a player, but he pulled off a more difficult feat--he made it as an umpire. On July 16, he worked his first game at Dodger Stadium.

“It was real nice,” he said. “I saw four people I knew who just went to the game and came by the railing.”

Wolf fills in when umpires go on vacation. Otherwise, he works in the triple-A Pacific Coast League. He’s in regular contact with his younger brother, Randy, a pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies. He reminds his brother how to treat umpires.

“I tell him, ‘You be nice, Randy,’ ” Jim said. . . .

Baseball Coach Mike Batesole of Cal State Northridge should be smiling. Many of his players are having excellent summers.

Pitcher Andy Davidson has recorded strikeout totals of 12, 12, 13 and 15 in games in Alaska. Pitcher Mike Frick and shortstop J.T. Stotts are excelling in the Cape Cod League. Pitcher Kameron Loe is doing well in the Kansas-based Jayhawk League.

Batesole has added four Division I transfers--outfielder Eric Verbryke from USC and pitchers Steve Correa from Pepperdine, Eric Mosher from Florida and Jeff Schwenn from Texas Tech. Northridge moves to the Big West Conference next spring. . . .

Barry Matthews, former Crespi outfielder who attends Gonzaga, is batting .342 and is 3-2 with a 2.58 ERA playing summer ball in Alaska. Brian Felten, a former Crespi pitcher who is at Loyola Marymount, is 4-0 with a 1.31 ERA in Alaska. . . .

Football Coach Pat Degnan of Quartz Hill has high expectations for B.A. Harrell, an improving 6-foot-3, 240-pound sophomore tight end-defensive lineman.

Harrell’s father is 6-9 and his sister is a shot putter at Southern Utah. Harrell also plays basketball and baseball. . . .

Saugus has a freshman who’s creating excitement. Wide receiver Drew DeRousseau will play on the freshman team, but not for long. “We think he’s going to be a star,” Coach Ron Hilton said. . . .

St. Francis might be celebrating two passing league victories over Hart, but let’s see if the Golden Knights can win with pads on. Hart will have the best defensive line in the region with 6-4, 240-pound Evan Allen, 6-5, 235-pound Chris Frome and 6-1 1/2, 235-pound Pete Dubsky.

As if the Indians needed more talent, they’ve added 6-3, 250-pound defensive lineman Jose Flores to their roster. Flores was academically ineligible the last two years after playing as a freshman. . . .

If anyone sees receiver-defensive back Dave Anderson of Thousand Oaks walking around with scabs on his knees and elbows, don’t worry. It’s the result of his productive weekend in helping the Lancers go 5-0 in the Rio Mesa passing tournament. Anderson had five interceptions. . . .

Catcher Danny Dominguez finished as the leading hitter for Chatsworth’s Legion team at .410, a dramatic improvement over his .319 batting average during the high school season. He took a lesson last month from Reggie Smith, former Dodger batting coach, and much has changed. “Ever since that lesson, I’ve been hitting the heck out of the ball,” he said. . . .

The summer basketball season is almost over, and here are the top six boys’ teams: 1. Thousand Oaks, 2. Notre Dame, 3. Crescenta Valley, 4. Chaminade, 5. Sylmar, 6. Oxnard.

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Eric Sondheimer’s local column appears Wednesday and Sunday. He can be reached at (818) 772-3179 or eric.sondheimer@latimes.