After a few seasons marked by a lack of depth, L.A. Harbor College baseball enters the upcoming season with a renewed focus under coach Marco Alvillar.
Now in his 25th season, Alvillar has emphasized building depth, particularly on the mound, resulting in a 42-man roster that includes a mix of transfers, freshmen and returning sophomores after finishing 8-29 last spring.
The Seahawks retained sophomore Cristian Hernandez (West Torrance High), an all-conference catcher, who said chemistry has played a role in the team’s development.
“We hung out a lot outside of the field and obviously, we have good freshmen coming in and I think with their talent, we’re going to become great,” Hernandez said.
That chemistry is expected to translate on the field, where Hernandez will return behind the plate while helping guide a group of newcomers. Hernandez hit .363 last season and drove in 20 runs.
Among them is freshman Ryan Torii (Torrance), who is also expected to factor into the pitching staff after developing his arm in the fall, along with sophomore Lucas Bauer, a transfer from Pennsylvania, Ronnie Ogusuku (Peninsula) and Aaron Alba have also shown promise, with Alba providing consistency with his arm. Additional pitching depth is expected from Joseph Norris, a transfer from Saddleback College and Hayden Nelson.
Another player to watch will be freshman River Martinez from Torrance High. Martinez is projected to be the team’s starting shortstop, but can also contribute on the mound.
Brandon Luna (Lakewood), a returner, will continue to play at second base, while Andres Roman (Lakewood) will also be returning to play left field. Providing a veteran presence for the Seahawks is another outfielder Colin Anderson (North Torrance).
Beyond personnel, Alvillar’s coaching staff includes some of his former players in Stephen Turner, who coached infielders last season and has taken over as the pitching coach. Turner’s former teammate, Brent Dean, a South Torrance graduate, who also played for Alvillar for two seasons and then went on to play catcher at UCLA, is a new addition to the staff.
“The coaching staff did a really good job with recruiting, getting all these young freshmen with talent to put in the work for this program,” Luna said.
Offensively, watch for freshman Pedro Ibanez (Banning), who has emerged as a leadoff at-bat.
Recent scrimmages have provided an early look at how the added depth has begun to impact the team, particularly on the mound. Alvillar said the pitching staff faced early challenges during a scrimmage against West L.A., but responded well as the game progressed, with the bullpen settling in and limiting damage late.
“What I saw with the talent that we have and the way we played, we’ve got a good chance of becoming a playoff team,” Alvillar said.
The Seahawks open their season with a two-game series (Friday, 5 p.m. and Saturday, 1 p.m.) at the College of the Desert.
Harbor’s first home game is Tuesday against Moorpark.