BASEBALL NOTEBOOK; SHIELDS BACK IN THE MIX.

Byline: Scott Magoloff Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - It didn't take Jamie Shields long to return to form on the pitching mound. The Hart High of Newhall senior and defending Southern Section Division II Player of the Year made his season debut in a rain makeup Wednesday and he earned the victory in relief.

Eric Posthumus started the game and Shields maintained the effort, keeping Canyon of Canyon Country down while the Indians surged ahead. Bill Susdorf came on in the seventh to record his school-record seventh save in the 5-3 victory.

Immediately upon his return, Shields was able to exact some revenge for the only two losses in his career, which came against Canyon when he was a sophomore. He lifted his career mark to 20-2.

The resurfacing of Shields only tightens Hart's stranglehold on the Foothill League and bolsters a pitching staff that is already stingy. But it also poses a problem most coaches would love to have: What do you do with Shields for the rest of the season, assuming he rehabilitates his lower back strain enough to take on the workload of a starter?

``When that presents itself, everything will work out,'' Hart coach Jim Ozella said. ``To be fair to Jamie, he needs to take care of Jamie. He can't be thinking about that. We're not putting any pressure on him to perform; we'll make our moves when it happens.''

Shields was on a 50-pitch count for the Canyon game and that doesn't figure to change much for at least another game. But that is only a minor concern for Shields, who has a scholarship to Louisiana State.

``I've been waiting way too long for this season to come,'' Shields said. ``It's my last year at Hart and I want to go out doing real well. . . . In the first game I only (pitched) a little, and then we'll keep adding and adding. Hopefully we'll add enough innings for me to be starting again. Right now (relief pitching) is going to be my role and that really doesn't matter to me.''

--Thrown to the wolves: While Shields was being afforded every precaution during his rehabilitation, teammate Matt Friedrichsen was being thrust into action abruptly at the start of the league season after recovering from a broken hand.

Friedrichsen has had trouble with his timing, as exhibited by his uncharacteristically low batting average, which is in the neighborhood of .200. Ozella hopes that the recent move of Friedrichsen from the cleanup spot in the lineup to the No. 2 spot will allow him to improve on his hitting. The move paid dividends right away, as Friedrichsen came through in Hart's 11-4 victory against Valencia on April 5, the first day of the switch.

Tied 4-4 in the eighth inning, the Vikings walked second baseman Ryan Haag to get to Friedrichsen, who responded by smacking a two-run single off the fence.

``We're hoping maybe he'll break out a little bit - he's swinging better in practice and his hand is getting stronger,'' Ozella said of Friedrichsen, who tied Shields for the team lead with a school-record 11 home runs last year. ``We needed to rush him back into the game to stabilize our lineup a little and we put him right in the four hole. Let's not kid ourselves, there were a lot of expectations and he struggled with it, but he's been a warrior.''