Ocean View’s Crowe Has Brains, Brawn for Thinking Man’s Game : Sunset League: The Stanford-bound senior outfielder is one of Orange County’s top scholar-athletes.

HUNTINGTON BEACH — Rich Crowe enjoys a good debate.

He has argued for women in the third-world nation of Zambia and drug enforcement agents of Colombia and Venezuela at Model United Nations conferences throughout Southern California for the past two years.

But few can debate Crowe’s skills on a baseball diamond. He has helped Ocean View High School’s baseball team win two consecutive Sunset League titles and is a big reason the Seahawks are co-favored with Huntington Beach to win a third straight championship.

Crowe, a starting right fielder, was among the county’s leading hitters last year as a junior, batting .420 with 10 home runs and 25 RBIs.

He’s also among the top scholar-athletes in the county with a 4.4 grade-point average. Crowe combined brain with brawn to earn a baseball scholarship to Stanford University in the fall.

Crowe has received only one “B” during his four years at Ocean View, and ironically, he got the less-than-perfect mark in a Model United Nations course last year when he missed a conference.

“I had a baseball game that day,” he said.

At one recent debate, Crowe argued the case for the women of Zambia, who feel inferior and have very little status in that third-world country.

“We have some pretty intense debates,” Crowe said. “I enjoy the conferences, but I’m really interested in math and science. I’ve always been a logical thinker and those fields interest me.”

Crowe believes baseball is also a thinking man’s game. He enjoys the mind games between pitchers and hitters and the game’s intricate strategy. He also admits one of his favorite pastimes as a sophomore designated hitter was trying to steal signals from opposing teams while he sat on the bench.

“It’s not real difficult to figure out some team’s signals,” he said.

It’s more difficult figuring out how Crowe, a 6-foot, 170-pound senior, generates the power that allows him to routinely drill line drives over Ocean View’s center-field fence during batting practice.

“You look at the kid and he’s not that big,” Ocean View Coach Steve Barrett said. “But he gets his power from his forearms. He can generate some tremendous bat speed. I would rank him along with David Holdridge as the two best hitters we’ve ever had at Ocean View.”

Crowe is working to become a complete player as a senior after spending most of his career as a designated hitter. He claims to have improved his suspect fielding.

“I didn’t play in the outfield until I came to Ocean View, and I couldn’t see the ball,” Crowe said. “Finally Coach (Bob) Gibbs asked me, ‘Why don’t you get your eyes checked?’ I’ve been wearing contacts and I see the ball much better now.”

Crowe played winter baseball for the Orioles scout team and played in the scout all-star game at Fountain Valley. He’s hoping to be drafted in June.

“The only reason I want to be drafted is so I feel like I have a future there (in professional baseball) someday,” Crowe said. “I’m looking forward to going to Stanford. I like the smaller atmosphere and the educational opportunities.”

Crowe chose Stanford over Arizona State and said he signed in November to relieve pressure during his senior year.

“I didn’t want to worry that if my average was down, the scouts and coaches would stop coming out,” Crowe said. “Now, I concentrate on having fun and trying to win the league championship again.”