Sage’s new man unique

Andy Berglund has played and coached baseball in some interesting places the last five years.

Sweden. Germany. Australia.

Now he’s back in the states, where he’s taking on a new challenge: baseball coach at Sage Hill School.

Berglund said baseball wasn’t a raging success in most of the places he spent overseas. It hasn’t been at Sage Hill either in recent years.

The plan is to change that in his first varsity head coaching job. Seniors have already told the walk-on coach that the team didn’t meet last year’s expectations, going 9-12, 7-8 in the Academy League, good for fourth place, under walk-on coach Mark Talmo.

Talmo left after a disappointing first year, another year resulting in Sage Hill not making the playoffs. For a couple of the players, the last three years at the school have ended with the program finishing with a losing record.

“They thought they could’ve had a better season. They put up some good numbers. Hit over .300 [as a team],” Berglund said. “Their goal was to make the playoffs and contend for league. I believe they can.”

League play just started and Sage Hill is off to a 1-1 start. It’s too early to tell what this season holds, but Berglund is happy that he already got his first league win under his belt.

The future looks promising for the Lightning. Out of the 26 players in the program, 11 are sophomores and nine are freshmen. Only three seniors and three juniors are on the team, not much experience for Berglund to work with.

But Berglund is up for teaching the game. He works with a couple of local baseball clinics, showing players the ins and outs of the game. The transition from personal coach to head coach of a team has been relatively smooth.

One player, senior pitcher/shortstop Travis Duncan, queried Berglund more than others on the team.

“He was worried because I think he has seen four coaches in his four years at the school,” Berglund said. “I understood that because he’s seen so many coaching ideas and they keep changing. I told him and the rest of the team that I’d like to stay green for a while.”

Green refers to one of Sage Hill’s school colors.

Green is also how you can describe Berglund to the job. He said he was hired in late January, giving him a late start. Talmo also stepped in January and it took time to adjust last season, players with the new staff and vice versa.

Sage Hill never put it together. Time will tell if it will with Berglund.

Along with Duncan returning, Berglund expects big things from senior outfielders JJ Beruldsen and Tom Multari, and sophomore pitchers Alex Jimenez and Sean Vogel.

Duncan and Beruldsen were second-team all-league picks last season. Beruldsen hit .412 with 22 runs batted in, three triples, and two home runs. Duncan batted .353 with 13 RBIs and seven doubles.

“We’ll compete this year,” said Berglund, whose team will host the Sage Hill Classic, a four-day tournament starting Wednesday. “I know Oxford is the favorite to win league again and I can’t tell you whether we’re close to [it] yet.”

DAVID CARRILLO PEÑALOZA may be reached at (714) 966-4612 or at david.carrillo@latimes.com.