Prep baseball: Holding up under a strain

Barry Faulkner

There is no disabled list in high school baseball, in which roughly

25 games comprise a 10-week season that leaves little time for the

walking wounded to work back up to a full sprint.

Sprinting after balls headed for the outfield gaps, as well as in

front or behind him, had provided Corona del Mar High senior Billy Eagle

with a runway to greatness. At least that was the case the first three

years of his four-year varsity career.

An elbow injury, however, relegated the two-time All-CIF center

fielder, who also had been named Newport-Mesa District Player of the Year

as a sophomore and junior, to designated hitter duty his final prep

campaign. This spring, he was truly an Eagle without wings.

“It was pretty frustrating,” said Eagle, who will extend his prep

career in the Orange County All-Star Game tonight at 7 at Cal State

Fullerton. “It’s really hard to be as mentally into the game as you are

when you’re playing the field, because your intensity level drops just

staying in the dugout.”

Worse yet, the elbow ailment -- a sprained ulnar collateral ligament

in his right (throwing) arm, initiated by an extended outfield throwing

session during a summer trip with a scout team -- periodically affected

his swing.

“There were times when I couldn’t drive the ball because I was unable

to fully extend my arm,” recalled Eagle, who committed to continue his

career at UCLA before his senior season began.

The situation worsened when the injury was originally misdiagnosed,

Eagle said. He finally got proper treatment at the Anaheim-based Sports

Medicine Institute, from famed athletic orthopedist Lewis Yocum. Eagle

fights afternoon traffic to attend rehabilitation sessions at the

facility several times a week.

Extended rehabilitation, however, has not allowed him to retake the

field and he said if things don’t improve in about six weeks, surgery

could become an option.

“I just want my arm healed in time for college,” Eagle said. “Of

course, this summer is going to be important. I’m on a 10-step throwing program and I’m on stop six, which is playing catch from about 130 feet.

When the ligament gets stretched, it’s supposed to tighten back up. But

mine doesn’t always do that right now.”

So, for now, as he did his entire senior season, Eagle will bide his

time between at-bats in the dugout, trying to stay in the game and stay

away from over analysis prone to all hitters left with too much time to

think about their craft.

Eagle said he slowly became more adept at the designated-hitter role

and his statistics (hitting .377 with four homers, 22 RBIs and 25 runs,

with 11 extra-base hits and only eight strikeouts in 81 official at-bats)

were anything but lame.

But, he is anxious for a return to the field, where his exploits

continually amazed his coach, John Emme, as well as teammates, opponents

and spectators alike.

Eagle, competing in a Connie Mack League for the Orange County Dawgs,

said he is eager to perform for the South under tonight’s all-star

spotlight.

“It’s great to be in this game and I know a lot of my South

teammates,” Eagle said. “I’ll probably DH for at least half the

(nine-inning) game.”

Eagle is also gratified with a distinguished prep career, which began

with his late-season call-up to the 1999 squad that went on to win the

CIF Southern Section Division IV title.

“I look back on my freshman year a lot, and not just because we won

CIF,” Eagle said. “That was the year I learned how to play the game the

right way. I learned that respect for your teammates in the No. 1 thing

you need.”

Eagle’s career numbers are worthy of much respect. With a first-round

CIF Division IV playoff loss to St. Paul May 17, Eagle finished with 113

varsity hits, a .417 career average, 11 homers, 63 RBIs, 75 runs and 29

stolen bases.

As the team’s only senior regular, he helped the Sea Kings rally from

a slow Pacific Coast League start to make the playoffs for a fifth

straight year.