Eric Sandberg Ferris Year: Junior Sport: Baseball Position: Pitcher

Some people don’t know Eric Sandberg. Others know him too well.

Bill Harper thought he knew Sandberg. Harper, the longtime Philadelphia Phillies scout who signed Spokane’s Ryne Sandberg, approached Eric Sandberg during last fall’s Doyle Classic for high schoolers in Peoria, Ariz.

“(Harper) pulled me out of the dugout because he thought I was related to (Ryne),” Sandberg said.

There’s no blood connection, as far as Eric Sandberg knows. Yet their baseball abilities have a similar look.

Greater Spokane League rivals are all too aware of this. One year after Sandberg won the league’s triple crown (.519 batting average, 25 runs batted in, six home runs), they’re taking the bat out of his hands.

Sandberg opened the season April 3 with a pair of three-run homers off University. In two games since, he’s drawn four intentional walks.

“I guess the cat’s out of the bag,” said coach John Thacker, whose Saxons (3-0) play today at Shadle Park and have outscored rivals 38-5.

“It’s frustrating,” Sandberg said of the free passes, “but it doesn’t matter as long as we win.”

Sandberg, 6-foot and 205 pounds, also takes the mound once a week (tonight’s the night). In his ‘97 debut, he struck out 16 and one-hit U-Hi.

“I like pitching, but I don’t know if I throw hard enough to get to the next level,” Sandberg said.

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