COACH USING AN OLD STANDBY : LEADER ESCHEWS CREATIVE DIRT-CHEWING FOR PEP TALKS TO LIFT NEW BASEBALL TEAM.

Byline: Bryan Winchell Special to the Daily News

When Dennis Mifflin was playing baseball in college, he had a unique way of getting his teammates motivated.

Mifflin would step to the plate, grab a handful of dirt, chew it, spit it out and usually get a hit off the bewildered pitcher.

Now, Mifflin is coaching Valencia High School's first-year varsity baseball team and he can't be quite as creative with his motivational techniques.

``Being an adult, it doesn't work as well to eat dirt,'' he joked. ``I just give them the good old pep talk now.''

Any first-year team is going to struggle and Valencia certainly has at times with a 1-8 overall record (1-4 in the Foothill League).

While the team has had growing pains, Mifflin is happy to say that it is on pace to accomplish its season goal: to finish fourth out of six league teams.

``We're not in last place right now and that feels good,'' said Mifflin, who coached for five years at First Lutheran High in Sylmar.

Valencia won its first league game March 22 when it defeated Canyon 7-3. That win put the Vikings in fourth place.

Sophomore Jarred Myren started the game poorly, walking in two of the Cowboys' three first-inning runs, but settled down to throw a complete game and allow only four hits without a walk after the first inning.

Myren shares the starting pitching duties with sophomore Chris Honaker, a hard-throwing left-hander with good control. And freshman Zach Sawyer, a control pitcher with good smarts, sometimes starts.

With just 12 varsity players, Mifflin has to use his players wisely. Ten of those players stay on the team and he shuffles in two junior varsity players every three weeks to give them varsity experience.

Sophomores Nick Norris (first base), Chris Northway (second base) and David Roberts (shortstop) play with junior third baseman Louie Miller in the infield.

And juniors Bucky Downs (left field) and J.R. Starkus (right field) are in the outfield with sophomore center-fielder Brian Otis, who leads the team with a .478 batting average.

Behind the plate is Brady Burrill, who works with his older brother, Casey, a former Hart and USC standout a few times a week. Burrill is second on the team with a .381 average.

One thing that has helped the team's start has been the solid baseball backgrounds of the players.

``The kids are well-coached up to this point so they're ready to play,'' Mifflin said.

So Mifflin, who also coached the girls' basketball team, spends his time dealing with other issues like excess water in the outfield from a drainage system.

``Originally they put the outfield fence at 300 feet,'' Mifflin said. ``So when they moved it back, they didn't realize the drainage system that was behind the original fence would be in the outfield.''

The school will fix the problem over the summer. For now, the Vikings will focus on improvement and emulating top teams like Hart and Saugus.

``Next year, our goal is to make the playoffs and the year after that, we want to win league,'' Mifflin said. ``If I had to coach them a lot, we'd have a long way to go. But the kids are smart, so it allows me to try some things.''

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Photo

Photo: Valencia first baseman Nick Norris dives for a ballduring practice. Coach Dennis Mifflin is working on motivating his first-year varsity baseball team.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News