A MAGIC COMBINATION

Mike Witt was upset with himself.

The senior right-hander had led Servite to its first Southern Section 4-A baseball championship game, against Arcadia. He had a 1-0 lead after two innings, only to a let the Apaches tie the score in the third.

“I was pumped up pretty good,” Witt said. “But their first two guys each drive the ball into the gap and they score. I’m thinking to myself ‘Oh no.’ ”

Witt settled down and pitched a three-hitter. Servite went on to a 6-1 victory.

That title, won in 1978, is the only baseball championship Servite has won. But more than 20 years later, that 24-3 Servite squad is considered by some to be the best high school baseball team to come out of Orange County.

Mike Curran remembers that team well. Curran, now the Esperanza baseball coach, coached Santa Fe Springs St. Paul then. The Swordsmen were the only team to have an edge on Servite that season.

“Looking back, they are even more impressive,” said Curran, whose team gave Servite two of its three losses in 1978. “Even the No. 7 hitter was slamming balls off the wall.”

It’s no wonder Curran and others remain impressed.

All nine of Servite’s starters went on to play college or pro baseball. Witt and shortstop/pitcher Steve Buechele, the team’s cornerstones, became solid major leaguers.

Witt won all 14 games in which he pitched and was the Southern Section 4-A player of the year in 1978. Drafted that year in the fourth round by the Angels, Witt reached the majors with them in 1981, and won 117 games for the Angels and Yankees before an elbow injury forced his retirement in 1993.

Buechele, a junior on the 1978 Servite team, turned down an offer from the White Sox to attend Stanford in 1979. He signed with the Texas Rangers as a fifth-round draft pick in 1982 and played 11 seasons with the Rangers, Pirates and Cubs before retiring in 1995. He averaged .245 in his career, with 137 home runs and 547 RBIs.

Coach Bob Ickes’ Mater Dei team also faced Servite in Angelus League play that season.

“That team was extremely cocky,” Ickes said. “But they could back it up. They played at a much higher level. They

expected you to try and reach their level because they never played down to your level.”

Witt, now a volunteer assistant for the Dana Hills baseball team, looks back on those days fondly.

“Position by position, you wouldn’t find a much better team than us on the field,” Witt said. “And off the field, we hung together. We were pretty good friends. Most of us stay in touch today.”

Buechele, who now lives in Arlington, Texas, said the team “was one of those flukes that come along every so often. We had good players everywhere on the field.”

Servite’s other starters that season--Ed Farrell at first base, second baseman Doug Meyers, third baseman Stewart Stempniak, left fielder Tom Smith, center fielder Randy Day, right fielder Paul Mazzarella and catcher Mark Pirruccello--also fared well after graduation.

After attending Orange Coast College, Farrell and Day played major college baseball for Harvard and Texas, respectively. Meyers played at Nevada, and Stempniak and Smith attended UC Riverside, where they played on the 1982 NCAA Division II national champion team.

Mazzarella went to Notre Dame and Pirruccello to Cal State Fullerton. As a freshman, Pirruccello played on the Titans’ 1979 NCAA Division I championship team. He is still Fullerton’s all-time career home run leader (50).

Pirruccello, Smith, and Day signed pro contracts but did not reach the majors. Pirruccello, now the chief financial officer for Grand Casino Mille Lacs in Baxter, Minn., had his baseball career cut short by a rotator cuff injury.

Smith, a vice president with the Gaylord Meat Co. in Fullerton, said Servite was “a collection of good athletes and personalities that meshed. What defined us was the absolute knowledge that we would win every game.

“The confidence of that group--I was never on another team in any sport when everybody knew we would win. We didn’t know how we would win, but we knew the end result was a ‘W.’ ”

Witt the Star

Witt was Servite’s most dominant player. Pirruccello said catching him was a joy, but trying to hit against Witt was a pain.

“His curve broke about three feet,” Pirruccello said. “But it wasn’t that difficult to catch because he had such good control. You never felt sorry for the opponents but you could sense their frustration. It made for an easier game.”

But just as critical as the players to Servite’s success was the Friars’ coaching staff, led by Matt McCann.

Only 23 at the time, McCann was coaching junior varsity baseball at Sunny Hills when he was hired by Servite in the fall of 1976. Before McCann arrived, baseball ran a poor third to Friar fans after football and basketball.

“I met with the team for the first time just before the Christmas break,” said McCann, now a psychologist.

“I didn’t know what I had. I only knew that Servite had won only one Angelus League baseball championship in the previous 16 years, and that was shared.”

McCann also combed the Servite campus to find more talent.

“Witt and Buechele were outstanding basketball players but they also played baseball,” McCann said. “Ed Farrell had not played baseball for two years because he didn’t like how the program was run. Randy Day was going to quit after his junior year, but stayed.”

In their first season, 1977, McCann and assistant coach Dennis Iverson guided Servite to an 11-10 record. Eight of the losses were by one run.

“With two weeks left in the [1977] season, I told Dennis, ‘We’re going to win it all next year,’ ” McCann said.

They still had to convince the players. That happened during the team’s summer of American Legion ball against teams with rosters full of graduated high school seniors and community college players.

“That summer in Legion ball you could see we were coming together,” Meyers said. “We were playing JC guys and competing and beating them. And we never lost the feeling when [the 1978] season came around.”

Servite lost its season opener to Fullerton, 8-7, but the Friars were without four starters, including Witt and Buechele, who were finishing up the basketball playoffs. After the game, McCann got a taste of his squad’s competitiveness.

“The right fielder had dropped a ball in the bottom of the seventh to let in three runs,” Smith said. “Me and three other players went to McCann after the game and said, ‘If you keep that guy out there, you’re not our coach anymore.’ He told us something like ‘You won’t have to worry about that anymore.’ ”

Witt rejoined the team for the next game, and his first victory kicked off a six-game winning streak. The Friars then lost to St. Paul, but won another nine in a row before their second loss to St. Paul.

“Both times we won we didn’t have to face Witt,” Curran said. “The one time we did face him, he threw a one-hitter against us. We didn’t hit one ball hard.”

The Friars batted .327 in the regular season. Farrell had the highest average, .424 (28 of 66). Pirruccello and Stempniak led in RBIs with 17 each, and Pirruccello supplied the power with four home runs.

“Our system? Play fundamental baseball--throw, catch and hit,” said Iverson, now an insurance salesman in Anaheim. “We were going to do those things well and everything else depended on talent level. We had talented people and we believed it would be easy.

“Fortunately the maturity level of the players was high. They were not small physically, very intelligent and mentally tough.”

Playing their home games in either Boysen Park or Glover Stadium, the Friars built their offense around timely hits and stolen bases. They were successful on 76 of 85 steal attempts. Farrell and Smith were a combined 25 of 26.

“We didn’t have great team speed, but we ran teams ragged,” McCann said. “Not that many high school teams catch the ball well. My philosophy was keep making teams have to throw and catch, and something’s going to happen.”

The Friars were even tougher on the mound. Buechele was No. 2 on the staff, behind Witt, and he was 4-1 in seven starts. As a staff, Servite struck out 153, walked 47 and gave up only 23 earned runs in 22 games. The Friars posted six shutouts, and in eight other games the opponent scored two runs or fewer.

Playoffs the Key

Even with a 19-3 overall record and the league championship, the Friars understood they had to go deep in the playoffs to have their season validated.

That didn’t mean they didn’t have fun during the playoffs.

“It was real loose,” Buechele said. “But when it was time to take the field for a game, we were all serious.”

“It was important that the coaches let us be ourselves,” said Meyers, who works in his family’s construction equipment rental business in Anaheim.

“We knew they were in control, but they let us have personalities and let the game be a game. Our coaches kept it fun. The discipline was there, but it was fun.”

Witt handled Fountain Valley, 4-1, in the first round. But Servite nearly got tripped up by West Covina in the second.

“I started that game,” Buechele said. “And [future Angel] Tom Brunansky hit this mammoth home run with one on in the first. I’m not sure yet if it’s landed to this day.”

Servite rallied to take a 3-2 lead, and McCann brought in Witt. The Bulldogs tied the score in the bottom of the sixth, but the Friars took advantage of a West Covina error in the seventh to score the winning run for a 4-3 victory.

“After that game we knew we were not just a regular team,” Pirruccello said. “We’d always heard of those Covina teams. Once we knew we could compete with them, there was no stopping us.”

Buechele beat Camarillo, 6-0, in the quarterfinals, and Witt defeated Covina Edgewood, 7-3, in a semifinal. Buechele’s grand slam was the difference.

Buechele’s blast underscored his postseason. After batting .309 during the regular season, Buechele hit .563 (nine for 16) and drove in 10 runs, nearly half of the team’s playoff total (22).

“I don’t know why I got hot,” Buechele said. “I was a leadoff hitter, so I got overlooked. The other guys were really good hitters. You forget about the guy that was not having the kind of year they were having.”

McCann knew why.

“The bigger the game, the better he was,” McCann said. “I hated when we’d play a 2-12 team; he would go 0 for 4 with three strikeouts. But in the big games he would be locked in.”

Then came the final at Anaheim Stadium. The Apaches had a hot team as well, having won 15 in a row.

It was a big moment for Witt.

“From the time I was small, I’d envisioned playing at Anaheim Stadium, especially in high school,” Witt said. “It was always dream. I never knew if it would come true and it happened.”

Even though Arcadia kept the game close for awhile, Smith said the Friars’ confidence never wavered.

“We were slow starters who figured when it was over, we would win,” Smith said. “It might take an inning or two to get going, but the second time through the lineup it was over.”