Scouts are Starting to Run After Herde

Tuesday’s baseball game between Cal State Fullerton and the University of San Diego likely drew a fair share of pro scouts to USD’s Cunningham Stadium. How many of them were there to watch the Toreros’ Kevin Herde nobody knows. And Herde might be the last to know.

Herde, a sophomore from San Pasqual High who has become the Toreros’ best local recruit and one of the West Coast Conference’s best players, was asked: “Are you being scouted?”

His response: “I’m not really sure.”

The logical answer should be yes.

USD was “not really sure” about Herde before his freshman year. They didn’t know where to play him, if at all. But when he started pounding the ball, they had to find a spot. Herde finished hitting .330 with seven home runs, 45 RBIs and 18 doubles. What do you do for an encore? He entered Tuesday’s game hitting .323, tops among Torero regulars, and was leading the team in hits (42), RBIs (36), homers (six) and slugging percentage (.508).

Not only that, he ranks among the WCC’s top 10 pitchers with a 3-2 record and a 4.22 ERA. He was 17-5 as pitcher at San Pasqual and had several college offers, including feelers from Oklahoma and Pepperdine. He also played catcher in high school. USD recruited him as an infielder. But he spent 1990 not pitching, not catching and not playing the infield. He played designated hitter. Herde didn’t care, as long as he was in the lineup.

“I didn’t want to go to a big school where I’d sit the bench until I was a senior,” he said. “I wanted to go to a place where I could play a lot right away. I didn’t come here to pitch. The coach (John Cunningham) didn’t think I had what it took. But we lost a lot (of pitchers) after my freshman year. I approached him. The last few weeks I’ve been part of the rotation.”

Rowing Woes: Last year, SDSU women’s crew Coach Michelle Petrick not only donated her time, but she gave part of her salary as a San Diego Police officer to help keep the Aztecs afloat. This year, the team wants to repay Petrick, an SDPD special narcotics agent, $5,000 through various fund raising schemes. The latest will be their annual Fun in the Sun at the Mission Bay Aquatic Center Saturday.

The event is free and the SDSU women will teach the public the finer points of rowing from noon to 3:30 p.m. Donations, of course, are encouraged.

“She spent a couple thousand dollars on us, I’m sure, last year,” team treasurer Kathryn LaBarbera said. “Even if we paid her $5,000, she’d be getting about two cents an hour with all the time she puts in.”

Crew is a club sport at SDSU, and LaBarbera, a member of the varsity four team, said the Aztecs also need money for a new boat. She said no matter how hard she and her teammates train these days, they’re getting beat by teams with more technically advanced skulls.

“All the teams we compete against have boats that are one and two years old,” said LaBarbera, whose Aztecs will compete in the San Diego City Championship regatta on Mission Bay Saturday morning. “Ours is 12 years old.”

Call on “Weasel”: SDSU’s varsity baseball team has taken a liking to a 6-1, 150-pound relief pitcher they call “The Weasel.” His name is John Lynn and he was called up last weekend from the junior varsity team as a possible solution to the Aztecs’ bullpen problems. Lynn made two appearances and got two victories against New Mexico.

Lynn, a gangly side-arm right-hander, pitched 8 1/3 innings, allowing six hits and three earned runs combined in SDSU’s 7-6 victory over the Lobos Saturday and the Aztecs’ 4-2 triumph Sunday. Entering the week, SDSU relievers had made 103 appearances in 34 games. In one contest, a 6-3 loss to San Jose State, Aztec Coach Jim Dietz called on five pitchers to face five hitters in the ninth inning.

Despite the shaky bullpen, SDSU (26-8) has won 18 of its past 21 games and is 11-2 in one-run games. The Aztecs went into a series at Utah Tuesday in second place in the Western Athletic Conference at 7-1. First-place Hawaii is 10-1.

UCSD on display: Collegiate softball is not a high-profile sport in San Diego, but UC San Diego may be changing that, if only in a small way. The Tritons (13-10) were ranked 12th in Division III in a preseason poll. They are currently 6-0 against Division III opponents. They will try to improve that record this weekend, as they host USD, Brigham Young and Claremont in the UCSD Invitational. The Toreras, at 14-9, might be their toughest opponent, though UCSD holds a 22-10 advantage in the games between the two. Both teams have several San Diego-area products who are having good seasons, including Tiffany Wasilewski of Mission Bay (8-2 pitching, .404 batting average for USD) and Dana Chaiken (lifetime .300 average, 72 stolen bases).