Orange County Prep Review / Robyn Norwood : Disappointed Trojans Look Ahead

The disappointing and tumultuous University High School baseball season ended Thursday with a 12-5 loss to Tustin. The Trojans, a team of veterans who were two-time defending Sea View League champions, finished fourth in the league at 5-9-1, 11-14-1.

The season also ended last week for all other Orange County teams except the approximately 30 that advanced to the Southern Section playoffs by finishing in the top three in their leagues. The playoff-bound teams will learn what lies ahead when pairings are announced today.

It was an odd season for the Trojans, who were in their first year under Coach Steve Ruiz. He became the fifth University coach in four years when he replaced Chris Conlin, who was dismissed in a controversial firing last year.

Conlin, whose team won the league title, was fired after a group of players and parents complained to school district officials about what they perceived as hard-line coaching methods.

This season, Ruiz became involved in a controversy over Sunday practices, which are prohibited under Southern Section rules. He reported Tustin for violating the rule. Then, on another Sunday, he pitched to one of his players whom he encountered taking batting practice on the University field. Ruiz reported himself for the incident, which he termed “stupid.” League officials eventually assessed forfeits to Tustin and University for the violations.

In another incident, three senior players quit the team after Ruiz punished one for failing to hustle. One of the players later returned to the team.

In the meantime, University didn’t win a lot of games.

“We were disappointed in the record,” Ruiz said Sunday, assessing the season. “I though we’d do better than we did. It was a learning experience. But we’re going to start fresh and clean next year. I met with the underclassmen Friday to get going on the summer program.”

Ruiz, a political science teacher at the school who has long wanted to coach the varsity, took over at a time when Robert Bruce, University principal, said the program desperately needed stability.

Jerry Jelnick, now the coach at Corona del Mar, said that he was asked to resign in 1984 and that he believed it was to make way for Eddie Allen, a former UC Irvine head coach and USC assistant.

Allen, who was frequently out of town and who delegated much of the everyday coaching to assistants Dan Daniels and Brian Shaw, resigned during the 1985 season in a dispute over players’ academic eligibility.

Shaw was hired as head coach, but he left the school to accept a job as vice principal at Rim of the World High School in Lake Arrowhead before the next season. Conlin was then hired.

Ruiz said that he is committed to establishing stability in the program and that Bruce has assured him he is not under pressure to win--at least for four years.

“I felt it was an important thing for the school to get some kind of stability, no matter who the person was this year,” Ruiz said. “It’s important because there’s been such a revolving door. It would be nice to win too.”

The Santiago High School tennis team, which until a few years ago had an 11-year losing streak, has made it to the Southern Section 3-A playoffs under the guidance of Coach Tim Ludeke, who played on two winless Santiago teams in the late 1970s.

Santiago earned a playoff berth by finishing third in the Garden Grove League with a 5-5 record, 11-8 overall.

“I was always tired of being laughed at and looked down on when I played,” said Ludeke, 26, who is in his third year as varsity coach. “Now I’m sort of making up for what happened when I was playing.

“I told the kids we were going to have to be willing to work this hard to be halfway good.”

For their trouble, the Cavaliers have drawn top-seeded Los Alamitos in the first round of the playoffs Tuesday. Los Alamitos (21-0) has not lost a regular-season match in six years.

“We’re probably going to get really beaten up,” Ludeke said. “But just getting to CIF (the Southern Section playoffs) was a big accomplishment for us. We didn’t have any aspirations of incredible accomplishments.”

Santiago is led by No. 1 singles player Minh Hoang and No. 2 Tuan Tran, both seniors who were freshmen on the last team to go winless. The victory that broke the losing streak of more than 140 matches came when they were sophomores.

“Everything has gone from being ridiculed and embarrassing to getting respect. Nobody thinks we’re a real power, but we’re not jokes anymore,” said Ludeke.

Prep Notes

Todd Tomazic of El Dorado has been named to the Asics-Tiger All-American wrestling second team published in Wrestling Masters magazine. Tomazic won the state championship in the 168-pound weight class. . . . The second Des Flood basketball shooting camp is scheduled for June 22-26 and June 29-July 3 in the Western High gymnasium. Both sessions, held from 9 a.m. to noon each day, are open to boys and girls ages 11 to 18. For further information, contact Flood at 827-9927. . . . Steve Guild of Marina, Bobby Joyce of Santa Ana and Mike Hopkins of Mater Dei are listed among the top 100 juniors in the nation in Cage Scope magazine.