Prep baseball: Open auditions

Barry Faulkner

NEWPORT BEACH - It’s not that first-year Newport Harbor High

baseball coach Joel Desquin has a secret he’s reluctant to share. The

simple fact is, he knows marginally more than anyone else about the

prospects of this year’s Sailors.

“People have been asking me how good we’re going to be and I have been

telling them it’s kind of hard to say,” said Desguin, hired in late

October to replace six-year veteran Jim Kiefer, who resigned in order to

pursue educational goals.

Desguin said he hasn’t seen enough of his players in competition to

make a valid evaluation.

“I got to see some guys a little bit in the fall and winter, but I

never saw the returners play last year,” said Desguin, a 15-year coaching veteran who built most of his experience in his native Florida, before

working as an assistant at Orange Coast College and Corona del Mar High.

Adding intrigue for Desguin is the recent arrival of basketball

players Jon Vandersloot, Lu Castillo and Andre Pinesett.

Vandersloot and Castillo, whose involvement in football took them out

of fall baseball pursuits, are among five senior returners who saw

extended action for last year’s 8-16-1 squad. The Sailors have failed to

make the CIF playoffs the last 11 seasons.

Senior Cody Forsythe hit .299 (20 for 67) with one home run and eight

RBIs last spring, while Vandersloot and fellow senior Mike Jones each had

18 hits as juniors. Vandersloot drove in 16 runs, second best on the team

last year, while Jones had seven RBIs and scored 13 runs.

Senior Cameron Pemstein (10 hits and three RBIs) and Castillo (five

hits and five RBIs) round out those who are not new to varsity

competition, while seniors Shane Glenn, Adam Cherry and Ryan Metkovich,

as well as junior Ryan Torrey, also saw limited action for Kiefer last

year.

Perhaps this year’s most anticipated player is sophomore Pinesett, a

former Newport Beach youth baseball home run king who spent his freshman

season at Mater Dei.

Pinesett, a chiseled 6-foot, 190 pounds, is a former Daily Pilot

Little League Dream Team selection, who amassed close to 30 homers in his

final two seasons in the Majors (ages 11-12). He also won a home run

contest at the Hall of Fame Tournament in Cooperstown, N.Y., the fall of

1998.

Pitching, as with the rest of the lineup, is a work in progress, and

Desguin and assistant Evan Chalmers, the football team’s defensive

coordinator, will use the early season to let players battle among

themselves for more defined roles.

Forsythe, the lone lefty, is among five or six guys who can all pitch,

Desguin said.

Glenn, Cherry, Torrey, Pemstein, as well as junior Ryan Rowe, are

additional mound options.

“Right now, we don’t have an outstanding No. 1 or No. 2 pitcher who

are going to throw the majority of our innings,” Desguin said. “It’s

almost like I can put them all in a hat and pick them out. For the most

part, it’s going to be whoever is on that day and throwing strikes. If

one guy is struggling, we’ll be able to go with someone else.”

Forsythe and Glenn are battling for time at first base, while Jones,

Cherry, junior Ryan Heenan and sophomore Mike McLean are among those

competing for the other infield assignments. Jones played shortstop and

second base last season.

Vandersloot may also play first and third, Desguin said, though he

spent most of his time in the outfield last spring.

Castillo, another outfielder, could also play third.

Pinesett’s position is unclear, since Desguin had not even seen him

pick up a bat or a glove until this week.

Torrey has been playing center and Cherry could also see time in the

outfield, as could Rowe.

Pemstein is the front-runner at catcher, but has been troubled by

tendinitis in his hand, which may open the door for junior Travis Moore

and Metkovich.

Junior Dan Kretschmar and senior Tony Sabins are additional job

candidates for the Tars, who host Los Amigos to open the Newport Elks

Tournament Friday at 3 p.m.

Newport Harbor baseball

2 Travis Moore Jr.

3 Adam Cherry Sr.

4 Mike Jones Sr.

5 Mike McLean So.

6 Jon Vandersloot Sr.

8 Lu Castillo Sr.

10 Ryan Torrey Jr.

11 Ryan Heenan Jr.

14 Ryan Metkovich Sr.

15 Dan Kretschmar Jr.

17 Tony Sabins Sr.

20 Cameron Pemstein Sr.

22 Ryan Rowe Jr.

24 Cody Forsythe Sr.

28 Andre Pinesett So.

44 Shane Glenn Sr.

Coach: Joel Desguin