Now Sorensen, 29, is expected to be named the Eagles’ coach, said Principal Phil D’Agostino Tuesday night, making this the seventh coaching change in the baseball program’s last 11 years.
Sorensen referred to Estancia as a win-win situation. The only place the team can go is up with Sorensen replacing C.K. Green, who stepped down due to not being able to get a teaching job at his alma mater after finishing in last place in the Orange Coast League in each of his two full seasons.
Talk of turning things around at a program that last appeared in the playoffs in 1992, a year Sorensen began his high school career at Warren of Downey, a program not known for its baseball lore back then, caught Sorensen’s interest.
Sorensen played an instrumental role during his senior year in leading Warren to its first league title in 25 years. Why can’t he do the same at Estancia, which was 9-18, 3-9 in league last season?
Evan Chalmers, Newport Harbor’s coach, has seen the fire in Sorensen well before he convinced Sorensen to be the Sailors’ pitching coach the last two years. Chalmers was an assistant at Warren while Sorensen threw lights out as a right-hander in 1996.
“There’s still a big banner with Matt’s name and my name hung up at that school, and I’m positive he sees this as a challenge to make a difference again,” said Chalmers of Sorensen, who was drafted twice by the Toronto Blue Jays. “It’s definitely a situation he has to build up, but he brings a wealth of knowledge. He can do it. He just has to learn how to walk the line when it comes to players, parents.
“Matt’s been around guys who are legends in this game locally.”
One coach Sorensen said he’ll continue to seek advice from is former UC Irvine Coach Dave Serrano, now at Cal State Fullerton.
