Summer Baseball / Senior Babe Ruth World Series -- Maroni's Goes For The Topping -- Seattle Team Seeks World Series Championship

EDMONDS - Practice started yesterday with sloppy play by the best teenage baseball team in the state.

"You guys have to understand we're not going to Jamestown (N.Y.) to have fun," Manager Tony Riviera barked. "We're going back to win a world series. It starts right here, right now!"

Play suddenly got crisp. Throws were on target, players hustled and there was a sense of purpose.

The Tony Maroni's Baseball Club leaves tomorrow for the Senior Babe Ruth World Series in Jamestown, N.Y., about 50 miles south of Buffalo. The Bellevue-based team has a first-round bye in the nine-team tournament. Maroni's will play its first game Monday against the winner of Sunday's game between Jamestown and Antioch, Calif. The Aug. 16 championship game is scheduled to be televised on ESPN.

The Maroni's team is a collection of 16- to 18-year-olds from Seattle-area high schools. Riviera, 40, a Cleveland Indians scout and president of his 12-store Tony Maroni's Famous Gourmet Pizza chain, manages the club and pays a lot of the bills. Players pay $500 for the season, but that doesn't begin to cover expenses.

Brooklyn-raised Riviera thinks his team is loaded with talent and has a shot at the national title.

"I've been coaching actively in Kirkland and Bellevue for 17 years," he said. "There's no question in my mind this is the best team of 18-year-olds I've ever seen in the country. Our numbers speak for themselves. Our record is 59-5, the batting average is .387, we have over 100 doubles, our slugging average is .634 and our on-base percentage is .481. Our team ERA is 2.30, which is incredible."

Five players on the team were drafted, four by Cleveland on Riviera's recommendation.

Riviera started the club five years ago and it won the state championship last year. He scouts and recruits players throughout the area. The team has a fund-raising auction and an 18-page media guide. The same public-relations firm that handles the pizza-franchise business also helps with baseball publicity.

"This is an invitation-only kind of ballclub," Riviera said. "We do winter workouts. We have them play basketball together so we know who's greedy and who's not. We learn who's going to fit in and who we have to weed out."

The team's coaches are Hank King Jr. and Ryan Fox, pro scouts and assistants at Edmonds Community College. King filled in as Mercer Island High School coach last spring.

The team has practiced or played almost every day since June 1. Players say the schedule doesn't permit them to hold summer jobs.

"It's a lot of fun, too," said the team's top draft pick, Daniel Jahn, a left-handed pitcher and outfielder. Jahn was picked in the 11th round by Cleveland even though he had committed to accept a scholarship from the University of Washington.

Riviera calls Jahn, the Metro League AAA MVP, "probably the most athletically gifted person on the team." He is one of the smartest, too. He had a 3.5 grade-point average and will study physics if he goes to the UW. Jahn is batting .396.

Pitcher Scott Robertson, who will be a Mercer Island High junior, is 11-0 with a team-low ERA of 1.40. Woodinville's Justin Crivello is 10-1 and Meadowdale's Courtney Hall 7-1. Jason Conover (9-0) from Lake Washington High School is the team's "finesse pitcher," Riviera said. The team's set-up relief pitchers are 6-foot-7 Jason Kampman of Redmond and Zac Chambers of Eastside Catholic.

Justin Hutton of Tyee High School leads the team in home runs (18) and is batting .404. Justin Hendrickson of Foster is hitting .447 and Auburn High senior-to-be Adam Hoyle is a top draft prospect for next year and is batting .446 with eight homers. Bryan Brown of Mercer Island is batting .450 with 10 home runs. Will Daugs of Mercer Island is batting .388 with a team-high 18 doubles and Chad Cossette of Enumclaw is hitting .396.

The team is top-heavy with 18-year-olds, but Riviera is confident about restocking, which will begin when Maroni fields its fall-league team in September.

"We've got a lot of commitments for next year," he said.

Notes

-- The other World Series teams are Jamestown, N.Y. (host team); East Fishkill, N.Y.; Cinncinnati; Weimer, Texas; Nashville; Antioch, Calif.; Mineral Area, Missouri; Stamford, Conn.

-- Two Tony Maroni's players, Levi Meseberg of Royal City and Brad Drummond of Liberty High School, will not play in the World Series because of eligibility questions. Meseberg was drafted in the 31st round by expansion Tampa Bay. ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1997 Tony Maroni's Baseball Club

Age School Year Pos. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Kevin Barrow 16 Bellevue HS Will be Jr. Inf-OF .

Bryan Brown 18 Mercer Island HS June grad RF .

Zac Chambers 18 Eastside Catholic June grad P .

Jason Conover 18 Lake Washington HS June grad P .

Chad Cossette 18 Enumclaw HS June grad C .

Justin Crivello 18 Woodinville HS June grad P .

Will Daugs 18 Mercer Island HS June grad 3B .

Courtney Hall 18 Meadowdale HS June grad P .

Justin Hendrickson 18 Foster HS June grad IF-OF .

Adam Hoyle 17 Auburn HS Will be Sr. CF .

Justin Hutton 18 Tyee HS June grad C .

Daniel Jahn 18 Franklin HS June grad P-OF .

Bobby Jones 18 Eastside Catholic June grad IF-OF .

Jason Kampman 18 Redmond HS June grad P .

Ryan Kern 18 Eastside Catholic June grad 2B-SS .

Scott Robertson 16 Mercer Island HS Will be Jr. P .