COLLEGE NOTEBOOK : Long Trip Ends Behind the Plate at Master’s

Matt MacArthur is college baseball’s walkin’ man.

During the past four years, he has played at four different schools. His college career, to say the least, hasn’t gone according to plan. Even he doesn’t understand all his traveling and transferring.

MacArthur’s odyssey began at Pierce College in 1983. After hitting .330 and making the all-conference team, the shortstop moved on to Arizona when the Pacific-10 school offered him a scholarship and the big time.

While MacArthur was happy enough in Tucson, Wildcat Coach Jerry Kindall became disgruntled when his team lost game after game. He shuffled his lineup and MacArthur was shuffled to the bench.

Said MacArthur: “At the end of the year, he called me in and told me I would be used as a 10th man. I was used as a utility infielder. That’s tough because you’d show up at the park not knowing where you were going to play.

“I didn’t want to platoon. I felt I wasn’t treated right. I’d earned a position and it was taken away. I wanted to be some place where I’d play everyday.”

With that, he transferred to Cal State Northridge.

MacArthur figured Northridge would be as good a place as any, what with Bob Hiegert running a perennially strong program.

But before MacArthur could say Atlas Van Lines, Hiegert stepped down as baseball coach to concentrate on his job as athletic director.

“That left me in limbo,” MacArthur said. It also left him on the bench--again.

New CSUN Coach Terry Craven platooned the 6-0, 175-pound infielder with shortstop Gary Williams.

“It wasn’t what I anticipated,” MacArthur said. “I earned the position at shortstop. I led the team in hitting in the fall, but when the season started, I wasn’t in the starting lineup.

“I never understood that. Coach Craven knew I’d led the team in hitting, but it didn’t seem to make a difference. I asked him about it, but I never got a straight answer from him. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel ripped off. I still think about it.”

Craven had his reasons.

“I thought Gary Williams was the more consistent of the two,” Craven said Thursday. “And I wasn’t disappointed by his performance. You have to go with who you think will do the best job.”

Once again, MacArthur decided to move on. He transferred to Master’s College, a small Christian school that competes in the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics. Not insignificantly, while MacArthur was at Northridge, his father was appointed president of Master’s.

MacArthur is hitting .401 for the Mustangs. He leads the NAIA District 3 in hits (61) and doubles (16). He is second in runs batted in (46) and stolen bases (25), and is third in hitting.

Besides playing shortstop, MacArthur has been used behind the plate.

“I think catcher is his best position,” Master’s Coach John Zeller said. “We decided to use him there because we had to put somebody back there.”

Zeller said MacArthur has a chance to play professional baseball. “He’s got good speed, a good arm, and he has some power in his bat,” Zeller said.

Although MacArthur hopes to be chosen in the June draft, no professional scouts have contacted him yet, he said. If he is overlooked, he said he would attend a tryout camp.

“I’ll go wherever I need to go to play,” he said.

And his four years on the road in college prove it.

Kennard Moulden, a 6-4 guard-forward from San Diego City College, has signed a letter of intent to play basketball at Cal State Northridge.

CSUN Coach Pete Cassidy said that Moulden, who was the Pacific Coast Conference’s most valuable player last season, will play small forward for the Matadors.

“He’s a scorer. He can put the ball on the floor and he can shoot from the outside and he’s good around the basket,” Cassidy said. “He’s a physical player who goes to the boards really well.”

With the signing of Moulden, CSUN has added five players to its roster. Other incoming players include: 6-8 Todd Bowser of Montclair Prep, 6-5 Ray Horwath of Sierra College, 6-5 Cliff Barnes of North Hollywood and 6-6 Drew Freidman of Oak Park.

While Cassidy refused to make any predictions regarding his 1986-87 team, he is clearly encouraged by his recruits.

“We’re pleased with everybody,” he said. “It’s a good group. Given time, I think they’ll help us.”

Cassidy said he expects Moulden, 25, to help immediately.

“He’s a mature player. He played ball while he was in the Navy. We’ve had good luck with ex-servicemen in the past.”

Former Northridge player Larry White served in the Navy and Wayne Fluker served in the Marines before playing at CSUN.

An unusual set of circumstances unfolded during the quarterfinals of the community college singles division of the Ojai tennis tournament last weekend.

Steve Yu, Pierce College’s No. 2 player, was playing Sean Wade of Grossmont College when Wade fell to the ground with back spasms in the second game of the second set. Yu had won the first set, 6-4.

When Grossmont coaches were unable to help Wade, Yu walked over and took him through some exercises that relieved his pain.

Wade then got up and beat Yu, 6-2 and 6-4.

Wade also went on to beat Nelson Gary, Pierce’s No. 1 player, in Sunday’s final.

“I told Steve later that he did the right thing by helping Wade,” Pierce Coach Paul Xanthos said. But deep down, the coach admitted he wasn’t so sure.

Said Xanthos: “I was thinking to myself that I should kick myself in the pants for letting him do it.”

Four Cal State Northridge players--Karen Frawley, Susie Campbell, Missy Conn and Kelly Grattan--have been named to the All-California Collegiate Athletic Assn. women’s tennis team. Coach Tony Davila has been selected the CCAA’s women’s coach of the year.

CSUN’s Nicolas Renard was named to the All-CCAA men’s team.

Northridge will play host to the NCAA Division II tennis championships over the next two weeks. The women’s tournament will be played May 5-10, while the men will play May 12-18.

Former North Hollywood High baseball player Paul List is hitting .307 this season for Hawaii, including a .459 average in Western Athletic Conference games.

List said he feels comfortable at the plate, but that Hawaii weather is rough on his sinuses. “Sometimes I get bad headaches,” he said.