NOT YOUR AVERAGE JOE : Ciccarella Attempts to Became First WCC Player to Win Triple Crown

Ted Williams was retired for nine years before Joe Ciccarella was born, but the Red Sox Hall of Famer is his hero.

Why not? The Loyola Marymount slugger with the sweet swing has done a pretty fair job of emulating Williams to this point.

The junior first baseman wants to use his big season as a springboard to a professional career and follow in Williams’ footsteps and so far nobody on Loyola’s schedule has been able to stop his ascent.

Ciccarella is on course to be the first player in West Coast Conference history to win the triple crown. He currently leads the league in home runs (13), runs batted in (59) and batting average (.434).

Williams, his hero, was a triple crown winner in the major leagues in 1942 and 1947.

Ciccarella also leads the WCC in doubles (19) and walks (46) and has a whopping .566 on-base percentage.

Although not the fastest runner on the team, the Lion cleanup hitter has become adept at taking opponents by surprise and leads the team with 15 stolen bases.

A left-hander, Ciccarella is also used as a spot reliever. He has a 3.27 earned-run average, best on the team.

“He’s just having one of those years everybody believed he could have,” Loyola Coach Chris Smith said. “It was just a matter of if he stayed healthy, it’s his turn. He’s done everything you need to do to be who he is.”

After graduation from Santa Ana Mater Dei High and spurning pro offers, Ciccarella became one of Loyola’s most highly touted recruits. He batted .316 with 19 extra-base hits as a freshman and appeared to be on his way to a big sophomore season when he suffered a hamstring injury. He missed 13 games and played hurt, but still hit .339 with six home runs and had a .473 on-base percentage.

He spent the summer with teammate Chris Gomez on the U.S. national team that competed in the Goodwill Games in Seattle and world amateur finals in Edmonton, Canada. He batted .298 with 34 RBIs in the 34-game tour, but was still bothered by the nagging hamstring pull and felt something was missing.

Enter new Loyola trainer Chris Tucker, who formerly worked with the U.S. ski team and is an expert in dealing with leg problems.

With the bad hamstring, Ciccarella said, “I couldn’t turn on the ball. I couldn’t hit for power. I learned a lot about playing injured but it was frustrating. Our trainer had me on the same program of (Olympic speed skater) Eric Heiden. He strengthened my hamstrings, he practically rebuilt my legs. I’m gonna go back on that program after the regular season.”

With the Lions having lost several key players to graduation, Smith built the 1991 offense around Ciccarella.

The only question was whether there would be enough offense to help Ciccarella. Opponents still walk him when they get the opportunity, but community college transfer Gerardo Perez, batting behind Ciccarella, has knocked in 51 runs. Infielder Darrel Deak also stepped up as a home run hitter.

Opponents rarely get the patient Ciccarella to swing at bad pitches, much like Williams, whom Ciccarella has read about and seen films of.

“I’ve always taken the walk. I never got mad at taking the walk,” Ciccarella said, adding that in youth ball “I was anxious to swing. Now I take the walk, make them throw strikes and get your pitch.”

Smith said Ciccarella has been unusually patient from the time he arrived on campus.

“The thing about guys who get pitched around and go into slumps is they get impatient and start swinging at bad balls,” Smith said. “He came in with real good mechanics. He’s always been real selective. He’ll walk if you won’t throw it over the plate.”

Ciccarella said he has consciously made minor adjustments in his swing to try to hit for power this year, but like Williams, he tries to pick a good pitch and hit line drives.

“I read that (Williams) said his home runs were mistakes, line drives that kept going,” Ciccarella said. “That’s the way I feel. Before, I was paranoid about not striking out. I learned you should take some strikeouts and try to hit the ball over (the wall). You need to stay relaxed and have a true swing.”

Ciccarella has been more than the team’s best hitter. At 6 foot 3 and nearly 200 pounds, he’s one of the Lions’ best fielders and his strong arm gave Smith the idea of trying him as a spot reliever.

“Smitty brought it up,” Ciccarella said. “We needed some arms and I knew it would only be in a stopper situation when they needed a left-hander. I decided to give it a try. It felt good.”

Ciccarella, who often trades places with the pitcher for a batter or two, then returns to first, has thrown 11 innings in nine games, striking out nine.

“He gets better every game,” Smith said. “When you pick your spots, I think he could have a future there. It’s like his entire game--play him and it’ll happen.”

Although Loyola opened the season ranked in the Top 25 and has remained on the fringe of the rankings the entire season, Ciccarella is puzzled by the team’s series of close losses and the must-win situation it must confront in WCC play. Loyola is hopeful of making the May 17-18 series against WCC leader Pepperdine meaningful. The Lions entered play this weekend 1 1/2 games behind the Waves, but trail by four in the loss column.

“We’ve played good ball, we just need to click,” he said. “We’re battling hard, like at Fresno State the game went 12 innings, at USC it went 14, but then we come up short.

“We kind of have our back to the wall. We just can’t lose many more games. We’ve gotta make this (race) a little tighter as far as Pepperdine, at least get to within three games so we have a chance going into the series with them.”

Ciccarella’s future in the June draft is also variable. As a draftable junior, he has the option of signing or returning for his senior year. The consensus is that if he is selected high enough, he will turn pro.

Ciccarella also remembers the plight of former teammate Miah Bradbury, who turned down an offer from the Phillies after his junior year, returned last season and was drafted by an independent minor league team with no major league affiliation.

“I’ll see what happens this June,” Ciccarella said. “I’ve been contacted by most of the (major league) teams and they’ve said I could go high. I haven’t ruled out (returning) but I’ve talked to Miah and I’ve learned from that. He told me to go play.

“Playing over the summer (with the U.S. team) gave me a lot of confidence. It taught me a lot about traveling and getting ready to play every day and that helped. I just hope I get the chance to play (professionally).”

It is probably inevitable. After all, who can ignore the next Ted Williams?