PALIHI BASEBALL PREVIEW

Charging Towards a Championship

How do you top a near-perfect season? That’s the unanswered question in the dugout of the Palisades High varsity baseball team, which came within two outs of finishing undefeated in the Western League last spring. To at least one player, the answer to that lingering question is simple. “Obviously, the way you top that is to be perfect, to go undefeated,” says junior second baseman Matt Skolnik. “This team is better than last year’s. We’ve got better pitching, better pitching and we’re going into the season better prepared.” Part of that preparation was an arduous off-season program instituted by new speed and conditioning coach and ex-PaliHi player Greg Strausberg. Several players have benefited from the extra reps in the weight room and long-distance running implemented into the Dolphins’ training regimen. “There’s a huge difference from where I was at the start of last season to where I am now,” senior pitcher David Bromberg says. “I’m in much better shape, I feel a lot stronger and that has really improved the velocity on my fastball. I’m throwing my fastball 88 to 90 miles an hour.” To duplicate or even improve upon last season’s 14-1 league record, Palisades will favor consistency–playing “small ball” rather than relying on one or two big plays–to win games. The team’s motto is inscribed on the back of every player’s practice jersey: “Get to the yard early… leave late.” “Pitching and defense are the backbone of our team,” says Tom Seyler, who will share the head coaching duties with Kelly Loftus as they did last year when they took over for Russ Howard. “With David [Skolnik] and Dylan [Cohen] up the middle, we’ve got a great double play combination. We’re not fast enough to do a lot of straight steals but you can bet we’ll play hit-and-run and lay down sacrifice bunts all day long.” Lost to graduation are the aces of last year’s pitching staff, Geoff Schwartz and Andrew Strassner. In their place will be right-handers Bromberg and Folse, both second-team All-League selections in 2004. Bromberg will double as the Dolphins’ starting first baseman and Folse will patrol center field. “We’re going to rely on our starters to pitch five or six innings and hope we can bring in Mitchell [Schwartz] or Cole [Cook] to squash out any late rallies,” Seyler says. “And Matt [Skolnik] will be our closer. He’s not afraid to throw strikes, he has a good curve, a good change up, and he proved last year he can handle pressure situations.” Bromberg, who is being scouted by several major league teams, including the Twins, Padres and Yankees, says he feels less urgency to strike out every batter knowing he has a solid defense behind him: “I really trust my infield. I don’t have to be afraid when I’m down in the count because I know my guys can make the play.” A key to Pali’s success could be the progress behind the plate of junior Tim Sunderland, who will try to fill the shoes of graduated catcher Adam Franks, last year’s league most valuable player. Sunderland was the backstop last season for the junior varsity squad, which did go undefeated’its only blemish a tie with Hamilton. “We have to be smarter and play better fundamentally than our opponents,” senior Frederick Douglas says. “Our coaches do a great job coming up with a strategy for each team and its our job to execute it.” Douglas and sophomore Andy Megee are still competing for the starting spot at third base. Senior Monte Doebel-Hickock will start in left field, sophomore Austin Jones in right. Rounding out the squad are junior outfielders Jeff Dauber, Seri Kattan-Wright, Bobby Hicks and Alex Pekelis. “First we want to win league again, but beyond that we want to go deep into the playoffs,” says Cohen, who earned first-team All-League honors with Skolnik last spring. “Our lineup should be pretty good, especially the top five guys in the order. We’re all pretty tough outs.” The Dolphins enter the season with three objectives: defend their league title, qualify for the City’s upper division playoffs and win a postseason game. “We exceeded expectations last year but I’m disappointed we couldn’t win that playoff game,” Seyler says, referring to Pali’s first-round loss to San Fernando. “It’s important to beat the good [San Fernando Valley] schools because that’s how you earn respect for your team and your league.” Palisades holds its annual alumni fundraiser Saturday, February 26, then opens the season with an intersectional game March 4 at Oxnard. Three days later, the Dolphins will travel to San Fernando with a chance to prove they are better than the team the Tigers beat in June. League play begins March 28 against University. Cohen started alongside Skolnik at Dodger Stadium when Palisades won the City Invitational playoffs two years ago, and he relishes the thought of going back. “That was a great experience, but nothing would compare with playing for the City championship.” Junior Varsity Preparing his players for varsity will be the primary goal for second-year coach David Kloser, who guided the JV to a 14-0-1 league record last spring. Kloser is also an author and he visits Village Books tonight to discuss and sign copies of his new book, “Stepping Up to the Plate: Inspiring Interviews with Major Leaguers.” The Dolphins’ JV squad features a mix of talented underclassmen. Freshmen include first baseman Zach Dauber, second basemen Jared Sklar and Alex Meadow, outfielders Jonathan Kramer, Brian Hanson, Riley Evans, Elliott Engelmann and Michael Latt, and catchers Lucas Berry, Alejandro Medrano and Garrett Champion. Sophomores are short stop Adam Greene, third baseman/pitcher William Buckner, first basemen/pitchers Johnny Bromberg and Robert Rosenberg and outfielders Alexander Hubbs, Jack Eller and Jake Jesson.