Road Warriors

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

Palisades High baseball coach  Mike Voelkel has never been to give excuses. As he enters his 18th season at the helm he and his players face a grim reality: having to play every game away from George Robert Field. However, he and they are excited about the challenge to be “road warriors” and expect to produce better results than last year when the Dolphins finished with a losing record for only the second time in Voelkel’s tenure and were eliminated in the first round of the City Division I playoffs.

“Sure, the fire and not being able to play or practice on our own field will have a huge effect on us, but we’ll figure out a way to deal with it,” said Voelkel, who needs to wins to reach 300 at Pali High. “Everyone’s counting us out since we don’t have a field. The  bottom line is we need to be tougher—and smarter. It really comes down to that.”

On January 29 the team got a surprise visit from Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who gave them a 20-minute motivational talk and answered questions during a players only workout at Cheviot Hills Recreation Center. Last Thursday, Joe Torre and Billy Crystal stopped by practice to wish the team luck and offer their condolences to the 14 players who lost their homes or got displaced as a result of the Palisades Fire.

Crystal and his wife Janice, who were co-honorary mayors of Pacifica Palisades from 2018-20, lost the home the couple had lived in since 1979, where they raised their children and grandchildren, and the fire also destroyed decades of baseball memorabilia Crystal had collected over the years.

“He was as human as human can be,”Voelkel said of the six-time Emmy Award winning actor,  comedian and filmmaker. “I don’t think he cracked a single joke. He was very concerned about the kids and their plight.”

Torre was a nine-time All-Star during a major league career that spanned from 1960-77, including stints with the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves, St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets. He later became one of the most respected managers in the game, leading the New York Yankees to four World Series titles from 1996-00.

“None of my players were even born when Joe managed that great Yankees dynasty,” Voelkel joked. “It was a cool experience for our guys and something I’m sure they’ll remember the rest of their lives.” 

“As of now, we’re playing every game on the road, but we have a full schedule as always and we might have games at neutral sites here and there,” Voelkel said. “I expect us to be better than last year. At times we’ve looked pretty good. Obviously, there are more variables added this year but I’m optimistic. Our pitching should be good and so far defensively we’re  not bad. It’ll come down to being able to score runs, have productive outs and situational hitting. It has to be a team commitment. You have to be willing to do it for the benefit of the team.”  

The varsity roster features nine seniors and 10 juniors and two sophomore pitchers, one of whom (Caleb Gitlin) Voelkel slated for the opening day start. The other, Hudson Ramberg will also play shorstop. Senior Max Miller is No. 2 in the rotation and will also play center field. Jett Teegardin will be No. 3 in the rotation and also play infield. Ryan Hirschberg, Isaic Buenrostro and Asher Cohen will handle the catching duties and patrolling the outfield will be three returners: Noah Andrews in center, Jack Curlin in left and Logan Bailey in right.

Also seeing action on the mound will be Parsa Imankhan, Roman Hawk, Jude De Pastino, Ian Sulivan, Yamato Yukimoto and Jack O’Brien.     

In the new Western League format, teams will play each other three times, not twice, and Palisades takes on defending champion Venice twice out of the gate. The teams split their two meetings last year.   

The Junior varsity squad, under new coach Darryl Washburn, will be led by ace pitcher and first baseman Lars Refnes, who led his PPBA Pony Division team to the championship last summer.