The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • 51

SOUTH BAY SPORTS 1 8 Part III Sunday. May 1, 1988 Angeles (Times Perseverance Paying Off for Leach Former Rolling Hills High Star Wins Collegiate Championship By IRENE GARICA, Times Staff Writer Kevin Leach of Rolling Hills Estates had to do a lot of adjusting during his first year as a UCLA golfer. And during his second. And his third. The first three years of Leach's collegiate golfing career were frustrating and somewhat discouraging.

He qualified for the NCAA tournament all three years and was named to the PAC-10 all-conference team last year, but he couldn't win a title. That was a drastic change from his days as a prep star at Rolling Hills High, where he was a four-year varsity player and set a record for the lowest stroke average. "I had a hard time adjusting," Leach said. "In high school, I truly felt I could beat anybody on any given day. Well, when I got to college, I was up against older, more experienced players.

My freshman year, I had a couple of good rounds, but I also had a lot of bad ones." At Rolling Hills, Leach was a Bay League player of the year three times and the league's individual champion twice. The 23-year-old received the prestigious Curtis Memorial Cup as the outstanding junior golfer in Southern California and he was an American Junior Golf Assn. All-American. In 1983, he placed second in the California Junior State Championships and had the best individual score, 148, as the Southern California representative in the American Junior Golf Assn. 36-hole tournament in Portland.

"He was a blue-chip prospect coming out of high school," said UCLA golf Coach Eddie Merrins, who has coached 13 All-Americans in his 12-year tenure. "His progress in college has been slow to this point but steady." It wasn't until this year, after two unsatisfying seasons and two personal hardships, that Leach finally won a collegiate title as the Bruins' top golfer. Early in the season, he won the University of San Francisco Intercollegiate Invitational by 10 strokes. Leach shot two rounds of 72 and went into the final round, which he shot 67 with a two-shot lead. "I could feel things coming together in my swing," Leach said.

"It just felt so good to win my first title. It was great. No, it was awesome." Merrins said the victory emphasized Leach's individual strength and potential to be an All-American this year. "He really gained the respect of his peers," Merrins said. "That was the field where they played the U.S.

Open last year. He won on a course of top-flight professional status." On April 10, Leach won the even more prestigious Stanford Intercollegiate tournament. At Stanford, he shot rounds of 69, 64 and 73 for a 7-under-par tournament victory. He shot 206 in the tournament and won by four strokes. "It was crazy," Leach said.

"I was nervous at first, but then I just got hot." In addition to the titles, Leach has had seven top-10 finishes in 11 tournaments this year. He averages 72.5 strokes per round, which is half a stroke above par, and has finished first for the Bruins in seven tournaments. The success however, can't erase unpleasant memories. It's been a rough road to college stardom for the fifth-year senior. After his sophomore season in 1985, Leach red-shirted to develop his game and to mature.

However, that marked the beginning of a difficult period for him. In the summer of 1985, his father, Joe, died. At the end of the 1985-86 academic year, Leach was declared academically ineligible at UCLA. "I was just having a hard time coming to grips with my father's death," Leach said. "I only wish that he could have seen my victories.

My dad's probably the reason I got a scholarship in golf. He pushed me in high school. He really pushed me hard." Teammate Brandt Jobe says Leach's life was a mess during that time. "He had too much free time on his hands," Jobe said. "Golf is what helps him schedule his time better, and since he wasn't playing, he was out of line.

"On top of that, he suddenly had to be responsible. He really had to take over a lot of family responsibilities when his dad died." It was his father who introduced Leach to the game he calls an "addiction." Joe Leach used to take his son along for leisurely rounds of golf. When Leach was 4, he played his first course in Torrance, a par -3. His dad told him that the day he broke 40, he could move up to a better course. By the time Leach was 9, he competed with his father and other men at Harbor Park in Wilmington.

"One day, we were going out to play," Leach said, "and one of the men told my dad, 'You can't take that little kid out there. He'll never finish. He'll just slow us Well, I shot 54 that day. I tied that guy." He continued improving under the supervision of his father, then under Rolling Hills Coach Jerry Kestenberg, who died about eight months ago. Leach said he couldn't let more than a decade of hard work and seemingly endless hours on the Please see GOLF, Page 19 p' JOHN FUNG Los Angeles Times Golfer Kevin Leach crouches for a better view of his next shot.

PREP BASEBALL ROUNDUP Serra in Hunt for Playoffs Davidson Assaults Record Book as Redondo Beats Cerritos, 6-0 Darren Fleming was a freshman at Serra High the last time the Cavaliers prep Wrap-Up Rob FemaS qualified for the CIF baseball playoffs That was in 1974. Royce Clayton. "I think we're capable of playing with anyone in league," Fleming said. "Even though we lost, that game proved a lot to our players." Serra's balanced lineup is headed by pitchersecond baseman Paul Beaman, third baseman Chris Jones, catcher Kevin Kay, shortstop Cris Aldridge and outfielder Torrie Sweet. The Cavaliers will get another crack at St.

Bernard when the teams meet at 3:45 p.m. Wednesday at Serra. Loyola Still on Skid, Gives Up 1st Place SANTA CLARA Loyola Mary-mount dropped out of first place in the West Coast Athletic Conference after losing a double-header, 6-5 and 8-4, to Santa Clara University on Saturday. The Lions will try to salvage the final game of a four-game series this afternoon at 1. Loyola, ranked fifth in the nation by Collegiate Baseball and sixth by Baseball America, has lost four straight.

Loyola (15-4, 42-14 overall) fell to third behind Pepperdine (16-2-1, 31-20-1), which swept a double-header from the University of San Francisco, and Santa Clara Loyola took a 5-4 lead in the sixth inning of the first game, scoring two runs on two hits, but a double by Jeff Healy drove in two runs for Santa Clara in the bottom of the seventh. The Broncos led 6-2 after four innings in the second game. Loyola cut the lead to 6-4 in the sixth inning but could get no closer. Darryl Scott (6-3) took the loss in the first game. Scott Neill (4-3) was the loser after going six innings in the second game.

Loyola hosts the final series of the season next weekend, a four-game set with Pepperdine. The records keep on falling for Redondo High School pitcher Scott Davidson as the wins, hits and runs batted in just keep on coming. Davidson set the Southern Section career record for runs batted in on Saturday night and moved into sole possession of second place on the section's all-time win list by pitching the Sea Hawks to a 6-0 victory over visiting Cerritos High. The victory came in the semifinal round of the RedondoPalos Verdes Tournament. Davidson, 11-0 in 1988, struck out 13 batters and allowed just three hits in raising his career mark to 41-5.

But it was a fourth -inning double that drove home his brother, Brian, that made his record-setting evening special. "I wasn't really thinking about the RBI at the time," Scott Davidson said. "But it's something he Brian will think about for a long time, and something I'll remember forever." Said Brian Davidson about scoring the run that gave his brother the RBI record: "That's pretty rad. I like it. Scott has many records, but that's one of the best of them.

It's a great achievement." Davidson's 135 RBIs eclipses the previous mark set by Jeff Cirillo of Providence in 1985-87. Davidson, who had three hits Saturday, is just three shy of Cirillo's Southern Section career hit mark of 140. Fourteen years later, Fleming is in his first season as Serra's head coach, and the playoff drought could be nearing an end. Serra moved sole possession of second place in the Camino Real League on Saturday by defeating Verbum Dei, 15-2, at Jackie Robinson Park in Compton. With six games left, the Cavaliers (6-2) have a good chance to secure one of the league's three guaranteed spots in the 2-A Division playoffs.

"We seem to be gaining confidence with each game," Fleming said. "We lost to Mary Star in the first round of league play and Wednesday we beat them, 12-0." Fleming took over the team five games into the season when Bob Flemming, the coach for the previous four years, resigned following a verbal dispute with Serra track Coach Gilbert Cabaong over use of the locker room. Since then, Serra (9-13 overall) has played .500 ball. Saturday's victory was the Cavaliers' fifth straight in league play. "Darren Fleming is doing a really good job over there," said Coach Bob Yarnall of league leader St.

Bernard (9-0). "He's got them swinging the bat and running and playing pretty good defense." Yarnall should know. Serra threw a scare into St. Bernard on April 9. The Cavaliers took a lead into the seventh inning, but the 2-A's top-ranked team pulled out a 6-5 win on a two-run homer by Redondo (23-1) hosts Gahr High of Cerritos (16-4-2) Saturday night for the tournament championship.

Davidson tied the RBI record with a' run-scoring triple in the second inning. The Sea Hawks put the game out of reach with four runs in the third, highlighted by Scott Taylor's two -run double. Meanwhile Davidson kept getting stronger on the mound. The hard -throwing right-hander struck out 8 of the last 11 batters he faced. Yet, Davidson still doesn't think his team has played its best baseball.

"We've played a couple games to our potential," he said. "But we still have not played as good as we can." -TIM DERMODY In other action: St. Bernard 12, Mary Star 0 Dan Melen-dez went 4 for 4, including his 12th home run of the season, and pitched a shutout to lead the host Vikings to their ninth straight Camino Real League win. Melendez's solo shot in the sixth inning was one of three home runs for St. Bernard (9-0 in league, 15-3 overall).

Eric Strand hit a solo homer in the third and Placido Estevez a three-run blast in the fifth. Eric Douglas added to the Vikings' 16-hit attack by going 3 for 4 with two RBIs. Melendez, who finished with three RBIs, gave up six hits to raise his record to 5-1. Please see ROUNDUP, Page 19 Fleming, a scout for the Atlanta Braves and a former pro player, was asked to project when the South Bay's top major-league prospects would be taken in the June draft. St.

Bernard shortstop Royce Clayton: "He'll definitely be a first-round pick." Redondo pitcherinfielder Scott Davison: "He'll probably go in the first round. If not, he'll go in the second." El Segundo first baseman Heath Jones: "He'll be one of the first 150 players drafted." South Torrance Softball Coach Jerry Mcllvaine says a mid-season position change has helped his team surge into first Please see WRAPUP, Page 19 Taking the Field With 'Oink, 'Gumby' Co. By ADAM MARTIN "CYCLOPS" "HONK TONK MAN" Mostly they go by names as common as Greg, Mike and Rick. Once in uniform, however, they are often called "Doghead," "Honky Tonk Man" and "Rooster." The nicknames come courtesy of Loyola Marymount baseball Coach Dave Snow, who is often called something other than "Coach" when he isn't around. Snow seems to have a knack for nicknaming players and apparently enjoys doing so, whether they like it or not.

"The guy who instigated the whole thing is Snow," said assistant coach Bill Spring-man. "He's been known for that for a long time. It's just part of the mystique here at Loyola." That mystique includes some quirky variations. Like when Snow decided to refer to Tim Williams and Mike Jones without pronouncing the in Williams or Jones, as in "Tim William" and "Mike Jone." That gimmick snowballed until several players entered a game against UC Irvine with tape covering the letter on their uniforms. Reserve outfielder Rich Tricarico was responsible for that prank.

And Tricarico, affectionately known for no apparent reason as "Edgar," eventually got to Spring-man, who filled his dugout post as Bill "pringman." The dugout where players rest on their posteriors, chew gum and tobacco, and philosophize on baseball in rudimentary fashion seems the appropriate venue for all the name-calling. "So many things go on in that dugout," said first baseman Greg Wall. "We really got a bunch of loony tunes on this team." Leading the cast is Wall, a.k.a, "Dog-head." who received his nickname when he arrived at Loyola last fall, said that most nicknames stick with players and that no one really knows why he is referred to in canine terms. Pitcher Scott Neill thinks he knows the "Someone said Snow had just seen the movie, 'Rooster Springman said, "and the next day when he saw Allen run down the first-base line, he yelled out, Motion pictures clearly provide some inspiration for Snow. "Ever watch 'Animal asks Dean Jelmini, president of Loyola's baseball booster organization, the Bullpen Club.

"John Belushi just gives nicknames to all the new pledges in Delta House. That's about the way Snow does it." Fraternal feelings result. "It's a unifying thing," said Tarchione. "The nicknames definitely bring us closer together." Tarchione is a not-so-proud owner of two cognomens, one physical, one cinematic. Poor vision in one of his eyes precipitated his getting one contact lens as a freshman, for which Snow dubbed him "Cyclops." That stuck until this season when Snow caught the film, "Back to the Future," prior to a mid-March contest at UC Santa Barbara.

Snow equated geeky supporting character, George McFly, with Tarchione, who has a 3.5 grade-point average. "It may be because of my hair, which is kind of long and tends to flop over like McFly's," said Tarchione, now known mostly as "McFly," "but I don't really know. McFly is kind of a dork and I'm not like that at all. I've been called a flake, but then this whole team is kind of flaky." Joining the Hollywood crowd is relief pitcher Kalani Bush, known as "Chief." "Kalani looks like that big Indian in 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's said Neill. Staff ace Steve Surico is called "Sleepy." And junior catcher Mark Grafitti goes by "Gumby." "When he first came to practice," said Springman, "it seemed like he was built like Gumby, with holes in his knees and a Please tee NAMES, Page reason behind Wall's moniker.

"His head is just gigantic," said Neill. "He looks like a big, old, shaggy dog." Added reserve infielder Mike Testa: "He just looks like a puppy with his mouth open and his tongue hanging out." To legitimize Wall's sobriquet, Robert Cannon alias "Cool Breeze" often barks from the dugout when Wall gets a hit. Said junior Rick Allen: "Cannon sounds like a serious German shepherd." Neill still goes by his childhood nickname of "Scooter." Testa and Allen have secured more telling alter egos. Snow renamed Testa "Nut" when he walked on the team as a freshman. Following an easy lead, Snow quickly called Testa's brother "Bolt" when Joe Testa walked on this fall.

Mike Testa got a new nickname after Snow watched a televised wrestling match in a Tempe, hotel hours before the final of a four-game, early-season series at Arizona State. The coach thought he discerned a likeness between his player and a wrestler called the Honky Tonk Man, who enters the ring with a guitar in his hand, looking vaguely like Elvis Presley. Testa was soon called "Honky Tonk Man" and began playing the part. "I don't think I've been called Mike since I've been here," Testa quipped. "Sometimes when we're behind, they'll play Elvis over the loud speaker between innings, and I'll start dancing around in the dugout.

I have some moves and a few wiggles." And the guitar? "He plays the fungo bat," said Wall, "and when we went to Hawaii, we got him a ukulele and he played that." Allen has become known as "Rooster." Neill said the nickname reflects Allen's cockiness. Springman has a different ill mm 'DOGHEAD" 'ROOSTER".