COLLEGE NOTEBOOK : Loyola Starts Baseball Reign Under Snow

When Dave Snow coached the Valley College baseball team to the 1982 junior college state championship, it was a sign of things to come.

Snow left Valley in 1983 to become an assistant at Cal State Fullerton. In 1984, with Snow as its pitching coach, Fullerton won the College World Series.

Later that summer, Loyola Marymount hired Snow as its head coach.

This week, Loyola Marymount took over first place in the Collegiate Baseball-ESPN rankings of college baseball teams. Loyola Marymount had never before been ranked first nationally.

The Lions are 38-7 and have won 20 of their last 21 games, including a 10-6 win over Fullerton Tuesday. Loyola Marymount has a seven-game winning streak and has scored 105 runs in its past six games, an average of 17 1/2 runs a game. The Lions are 18-1 on the road.

Despite his success, there was a time when Snow, 36, had his doubts.

“For a while, I wondered if I would ever get to coach a Division I program,” he said. “It’s not that I thought I couldn’t do it, but it seemed like nothing was going to happen, that nobody needed a coach. I wasn’t about to get out of coaching, but I was wondering if the opportunity would ever come around.”

The chance came, and Snow has taken the Lions by their tails. And at Loyola Marymount, he believes he has the best of both worlds.

“I’m at a small school where a guy can get a quality education in the small school atmosphere,” he said. “At the same time, we’re playing big-time Division I baseball.”

And are ranked No. 1.

“I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about that,” Snow said. “I think of this as my job. I know a lot of people think of coaching as a game, but I really think of this as my job.

“I have worked just as hard as any other professional--a doctor, a lawyer--at becoming a baseball coach.”

Snow is negotiating a three-year contract with the school. You have to wonder why Loyola Marymount, which has never enjoyed national prominence, would be negotiating .

Add Loyola Marymount: Steve Polk, formerly of College of the Canyons and Simi Valley High, is batting .350 with seven home runs for the Lions. Said Loyola assistant Chris Smith: “He has really come through with the bat. He’s done a great job for us.”

Senior Damien Bonefant, from Crespi, and freshman Mark Grafitti, from Hoover, are two other area players who have impressed Smith.

Cal State Northridge football players have voted Mike Kane, Darrell McIntyre, Reggie Wauls and Brian Clark team captains, Coach Bob Burt announced this week.

Kane is the top rusher in CSUN history. McIntyre will start at nose guard after playing defensive end for three seasons. Wauls, a linebacker, and Clark, a center, were starters on last year’s team.

The CSUN softball team will finish its regular season at noon Saturday when it plays host to Stanford in a doubleheader.

CSUN (44-10-1, 16-4) clinched its fifth consecutive California Collegiate Athletic Assn. title Tuesday. The Lady Matadors got from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, which blew a two-game lead in three days.

A look at CSUN’s final CCAA statistics indicates that several Lady Matadors may be on their way to postseason honors.

Barbara Jordan, an All-American and the conference player of the year last season, is a leading candidate for the same awards this season. Jordan, a junior center fielder, batted .308, scored 12 runs and played great defense for the three-time defending national champions.

Beth Onestinghel, a sophomore left fielder, was the team’s leading hitter in CCAA play with a .317 average and 11 runs batted in. Onestinghel already has set a school record with 29 runs batted in overall.

Nancy Lucero, a senior second baseman/designated hitter, played much of the conference schedule with a broken nose but still batted .306.

Three-time All-American pitcher Kathy Slaten was 10-1 with an earned-run average of 0.53. Sophomore pitcher Lisa Martin was 4-1 with an 0.22 ERA.

On a streak: The Valley College baseball team has won at least 20 games for the ninth straight year. Valley reached the mark Tuesday with a 22-16 win over Antelope Valley. The Monarchs are 9-3 in the Mountain Valley Conference and 20-9 overall after losing the Canyons, 8-1, Thursday.

Going, going, gone: A year ago, the Oxnard College baseball team was on its way to its second straight Western State Conference title and a trip to the state tournament for the second season in a row. Under the direction of Coach Jerry White, Oxnard ranked as one of the top teams in the state.

That was a long, long year ago. White went on sabbatical, and 12 months later Oxnard ranks as perhaps the worst team in the state.

The Condors avoided earning that label officially by folding the tent this week. After losing all 19 games, Oxnard canceled the rest of its season. Coach Dick Jaquez, citing a shortage of pitchers, disbanded the team Monday. Oxnard had six games remaining on its schedule.

Sean Harrigan, a Simi Valley High product, was one of the remaining pitchers. Although he understands the move, it angered him to see the team fold.

“It’s for the better. It’s all right to pitch Tuesday and Saturday, but when you have to relieve on Thursday, too, that’s too much. But I was mad when I heard about it. I wanted to pitch a few more games. All of us wanted to still play, but we didn’t have any say,” he said.

White, who cited personal reasons for taking a sabbatical, will return to Oxnard next year. He attended Wednesday’s Simi Valley-Camarillo game and already is recruiting for next season.

“I feel sad about the program folding. I put a lot of sweat and tears into it. I’d like to see it maintained,” he said.

Was ending the season the right decision?

“When you make a commitment to have a season, it’s tough not to complete it. But Dick Jaquez was in a tough situation. Some people hold him responsible. Some people hold me responsible. I don’t think he’s to blame, and I don’t think I’m to blame.

“It won’t affect me coming back, and I hope it won’t hurt our recruiting. That’s why I’m at this game today.”