The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 56

C18 THE BOSTON SUNDAY GLOBE MAY 3, 1998 Schools Hazelton Mike Pagliarulo and Greg Gagne have traded in their big-league uniforms and returned to their roots. For each of the former baseball stars it's been ararav to be JH. JL Maying ba JL C7 By Anthony P. Di Fonso GLOBE CORRESPONDENT By Ryan Mulcahy GLOBE CORRESPONDENT EASTON The relationship between Scott Hazelton and Vinny Pastore goes beyond that of player and coach. Hazelton, a sophomore at Central Catholic High School II Lawrence, lives with Pastore and PaSKetDail his family in Reading during the school year.

Yesterday at Stonehill College, the 6-foot-7-inch Hazelton, led the Wildcats, coached by Pastore, to an easy 84-48 drubbing of Nashoba in second-round action of the 16-and-under state AAU championship. The tournament ears after leaving to embark on major league careers that were covered by continues today at I V' i 7 Pagliarulo said. "But they all work during the summertime and I would miss that time with my son. That's something you just can't miss. I ran all my offers by him and he said, 'only if you play, I only had a couple of offers and they were minor leagues, so I decided to coach.

It doesn't quite pay as much, but it's really fulfilling. This is a town that really loves baseball." They have more than an affinity for baseball at NECA, too, but not the same repository from which to choose. While most public high schools have hundreds of students, Gagne is the baseball coach at a through 12 institution that includes only 360 young men and woman. There are 14 boys on his squad, many of them in the eighth and ninth grades. He knew that the team, which has started the season 0-7, was and is still maturing.

He approached the job with caution and patience, remembering constantly that the program's development is still very much a work in progress. "He doesn't expect you to be Ken Griffey said rightfielder Kyle DeGagne. "It's not like he comes onto the field like and says, 'Hey, I've been in the major leagues and 1 television, analyzed intensely by the media and scrutinized by fans, Somerset's Greg Gagne and Medford's Mike Pagliarulo have happily returned to toil in the comparatively obscure world of Massachusetts high school baseball for at least one very compelling reason: the absence of clamorous crowds and bright lights doesn't seem to radically affect the way a baseball twists, turns, breaks, or flies. The responsibilities and perspectives have changed, sure, but Gagne, who graduated from Somerset High in 1979, and Pagliarulo, who graduated from Medford in 1978, are still situated on baseball diamonds, and still involved with a game that sent them off to navigate sometimes diverging, sometimes intersecting major league paths. The former, who was known for his superb play at shortstop during a career spent with the Twins, Royals and Dodgers, is suddenly the new coach at New England Christian Academy in Swansea, McRae off toUTEP Former Mission High and BABC star Eggie McRae signed a letter of intent with the University of Texas-El Paso this past Tuesday.

McRae is in his second year at Tallahassee Community College in Florida where he averaged 13 points and 9.1 assists per game and, playing the point, led the the Eagles to a 25-6 record. He was voted both all-conference and all-state. He will have two years of eligibility at UTEP. McRae chose UTEP over Clemson, Texas and Virginia Tech. BOB HOLMES Stonehill.

Hazelton, who only saw about 16 minutes of action, managed to score 15 points, collect 6 rebounds (4 offensive) and dish out 2 assists. For Hazelton, the AAU circuit is a much-welcomed return to basketball. He had to sit out a year after transferring to Central Catholic from Maiden Catholic, where he averaged 22 points per game as a freshman on the varsity and earned first team Catholic Conference All-Star status. "It's been a great situation living with coach Pastore," said Hazelton. "It's been a complete turnaround in my life.

My grades are great, and I'm a lot more settled than I was. It's not like I'm living away from home. Ma iljj GLOBE STAFF PHOTO PAM BERRY Greg Gagne, center in jacket, leads his team in a pre-game prayer. Gagne is now the head baseball coach at New England Christian Academy in Swansea. you guys should be good and if you're not, you're off the team.

He doesn't have any arrogance in him. He really makes us feel like we're the best players in the world." Just ask the people up in Winchester if that style is at all effective. Indeed, just ask Mark Sullivan, a star righthanded pitcher and Boston College-bound senior who has quickly become an admirer of the Gagne coaching philosophy as practiced by Mike Pagliarulo. "He came in on the first day of practice and he was just a great guy," Sullivan said. "He leveled with us as people and players and we've just gone from there.

"His atmosphere is really more laid back than you'd think. A guy that plays in the majors that long, you'd think he might be all gung ho about baseball. But he's really not, he's a laid back guy. At the same time, when it's game time, we're all serious and while the latter, who played with Gagne on the 1991 World Series team in Minnesota, is working as the head coach in Winchester, a town generous enough to welcome a third-baseman who had the temerity to play with the Yankees, as well as the Padres, Twins, Rangers and Orioles. Ask either one how it's working out and the answer will be emphatically positive.

Ask a few players how they reacted when they found out that, yes, real live major leaguers were coming to coach them and you won't be surprised to learn that everybody was overwhelmingly enthusiastic. Ask a couple of Athletic Directors why they hired, "Pags," and, "Gags," as each endearingly refers to the other, and you'll quickly realize that you've asked a foolish question. "Mike was head and shoulders above all the other t. 1 i Vv yS 'It doesn't quite pay as much, hut it's really hilfflling. This is a town that really loves MIKE PAGLIARULO Winchester coach Tm trying to show them that I'm just like them, I'm just like anybody GREG GAGNE New England Christian Academy coach we're all ready to play and we try to feed off of him." A wise decision, to say the least.

Pagliarulo, who hit 28 home runs with the 1986 Yankees and 32 with the '87 team, and Gagne, who enjoyed a 15-year career that included two World Series championships with Minnesota and 111 candidates," said Winchester AD Dave Berman when asked about Pagliarulo, who was offered the position after the former coach, Bill Chase, took a job as the head of the science department. "Bill came to me in the spring and told me that he wouldn't be able to do it and I called Mike My mom just moved to Stoneham, and I keep in close contact with her. I just needed a change." For Pastore, who has also taken in former Reading and current Northeastern football player, Excell Walker, having Hazelton has been nothing but a positive situation. As a math teacher at Central Catholic, Pastore can keep a watch over his prized pupil. "He's a great kid.

You coach kids and get attached, and when we saw he needed help, we were fortunate to be in a situation to help," said Pastore, a father of 1-year-old Olivia. "He's like a big brother to my daughter. He struggled at Maiden Catholic, but he's doing great now. His GPA was over 3.0 last semester. He's turned his life around.

He's grown up, and part of it was maturing and realizing he wants to play college basketball. His basketball skills have always spoken for him. He wasn't doing well in school, but he is now." Those skills he was referring to include great athleticism, combined with an ability to play from both the inside and outside. Among his highlights yesterday was a thunderous dunk on a fast break in which he was fouled. Ever modest, Hazelton sees plenty of room for improvement.

"I need to be more physical, because I'm a little soft," said Hazelton, who has already drawn interest from Vil-lanova, Seton Hall and UMass-Amherst. "I have to work on my shooting, dribbling and defense. I can't play a lick of defense." "Right now, he's the only big guy that can play the perimeter, as well as inside," said Pastore. "He handles the ball well and for a kid that's 6-7, he shoots well. The big thing he needs is to get on weights.

His work ethic is great. The only thing he needs is to get stronger." Though yesterday's game was a laugher from the outset, there still remains plenty of incentive to work hard in these AAU tournaments. "The exposure I've gotten is unbelievable," said Hazelton. "It's great playing against the better competition all over the country. I like AAU better than high school." This 16-and-under Wildcat squad finished 10th in the nation last year as 15-year-olds, and as a result were invited to participate in the Bob Gibbons Tournament Memorial Day weekend.

Held on the campuses of North Carolina, North Carolina State, and Duke, the Gibbons tournament is widely-regarded as one of the most prestigious 16-and-under tournament of its kind. Only 16 teams in the country are invited. Reading's appeal will be heard Wednesday By Bob Holmes GLOBE STAFF Reading High's appeal of the results of last Monday's boys' track meet with Woburn will he heard Wednesday in Lexington. Three Middlesex League athletic directors will hear a presentation from each side and make a ruling. The ruling is expected the same day.

Reading's 239 dual-meet unbeaten streak was broken by Woburn Monday when officials disqualified Reading's Mike Connelly for taunting in the 2-mile. The loss of points earned by Connelly, who finished first, and Wo-burin's subsequent win in the 4 by 400 relay, gavejthe Tanners the 69-67 upset. career home runs, were both, by any standard, successful major leaguers. With that experience, and a commitment to being always amenable, to talking with the players instead of at them, both have slipped comfortably into their new roles. "I think that some of them think of me as something else," said Gagne, who was born in Fall River.

"I'm trying to show them that I'm just like them, I'm just like anybody else. Same deal in Winchester. "I don't want anybody to do anything because of what I've done," said Pagliarulo, whose team has started the season 5-4. "I run with them and I get out on the field, too. I want them to ask questions and we'll talk about it and we'll figure it out together.

That's the way to do it, that's how they learn." The first few days of practice went well, Pagliarulo added, although he was reprimanded by a janitor because balls were flying all over the gym. "I offered to pay for any broken windows," he said with a laugh, "We haven't broken any yet and I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing." And it's that laugh, that disarming insouciance, that sort of self-effacing wink hey, I'm nothing special -that has, obviously, helped both Gagne and Pagliarulo ingratiate themselves with their new players. Want to hear it? Ask either one about the other. "How is Gag's doing?" Pagliarulo asked, mirroring his old teammate's reaction when told that, "Pags," was also back home and coaching. "Oh, Mikey, yeah, I gotta give him a call," Gagne immediately.

We're thrilled to have him and he's doing a great job. He has a way to him that helps him really relate to the kids. It's been exciting." After finishing off last season with the Dodgers, Gagne, who has a wife and three children that remained in Massachusetts during the 1997 season, decided against returning to Los Angeles because of the strain that the distance was putting on his family life. He was temporarily attracted to the prospect of playing for the Red Sox, but turned away from an ideal playing situation because Boston never presented the incentives-laden contract that he felt would have been fair. "They could have maybe been more flexible with me and then I would have had a decision to make," he said.

"It wasn't much of a decision not to play this year. It would have been if they had come in with a $300,000, $350,000 base salary and then if you play so many games -140, 150 you're playing for incentives They were offering me a minor league contract and I might not have even made the team." New England Christian Academy AD Tom Cabral, meanwhile, had been coaching his own team, a team that is affiliated with Grace Gospel Church and has been an MIAA participant for only three years. He has known Gagne for two decades and knew that the Somerset graduate was a member of the church. The two of them met and talked. Neither could see any clear reason why the fit wasn't absolutely perfect Cabral would stay on as an assistant coach, and Gagne's considerable presence would alleviate pressure and allow for more specialized instruction.

"He was the perfect man for the position," explained Cabral. "I deal with the pitehingandjhe outfield and he deals with the infield.i badn't been GLOBE STAFF PHOTO BILL GREENE Coach Mike Pagliarulo keeps an eye on the action during a game with Melrose. able to work one on one with the guys. Now Greg's here and we can do that, we can work individually with these guys. He's just been an invaluable Devoutly religious, Gagne, 36, saw the coaching job as an opportunity for outreach, a unique forum that promised a chance to improve batting averages while at the same time disseminating advice that might productively affect the lives of his players.

"We're trying to get this developed and make this thing work," he said. "Basically what I feel is that you have kids that go to this church here and they have a school team we're kind of discipling in baseball and through athletics. "But were also discipling them about what I believe, in my heart, about Jesus Christ and about God. We're going to try and teach these kids baseball skills, but more importantly about life issues." With a similar regard for his own priorities and after a summer spent coaching his son's little league team, Pagliarulo, whose last season was with Texas in 1995, consulted 11-year-old Mike when a few major league teams offered coaching jobs over this past winter. The young man said he could go, but only under the condition that any job included actual playing time.

That wasn't going to happen. Pagliarulo, 38, could have taken a coaching job or could have signed a minor league contract. What he did do was remain, cherishing the time with his boy, and embracing-the-chance at another part-time job. "I was getting coaching offers all over the place," said, smiling. "How he's Fine, it seems,.