Small Colleges / Alan Drooz : Cal Poly Pomona Making a Late Charge

Scoreboard watching is a major diversion this week in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn., where the baseball race is in its last week with three teams within 1 1/2 games of each other.

Cal State Dominguez Hills, with a 19-10 CCAA record, came out of the weekend holding a tenuous one-game lead over Cal Poly Pomona (16-9) with UC Riverside another half game back at 15-9.

In a scheduling quirk, however, Dominguez Hills will finish the season Wednesday at Pomona, then must wait while Pomona plays a three-game weekend series at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Pomona also will play a home game against Cal State Los Angeles today.

So road-tested Pomona holds most of the cards despite its second-place standing. Three months ago, the Broncos had started out 0-8, were making more errors than hits and people were wondering whether Coach John Scolinos’ 25th season might be his unhappiest.

Instead, the winningest coach in Division II history with 1,064 victories hung with his young team and slowly turned things around.

He said the turnaround started during an Easter vacation trip, where the Broncos split six games with Oklahoma, Oral Roberts and Texas Christian. That trip also ended Pomona’s nonconference schedule, which was played entirely against Division I opponents.

“I think the schedule really helps us,” Scolinos said. “You don’t get better playing the humpty-dumpties. We split with Oral Roberts when they were ranked fifth--and away from home. That gave us the feeling, ‘We can stay with the best.’ We got slowed but we don’t stay down.”

Pomona’s comeback is remarkable because the team was inexperienced and is still weakest where teams are supposed to be strong--up the middle. The Broncos have committed 110 errors in 47 games, most of them in the first half of the season.

“They were playing soccer out there,” Scolinos said.

Pomona’s leaders have been designated hitter Tom Lorenz, batting .374 with 17 doubles, 5 homers and 25 runs batted in, and outfielder Steve Manes, the top power hitter with 10 homers and 35 RBI.

The top prospect, however, may be junior first baseman Tom Weeks, the hottest batter with an 11-game hitting streak during which he has hit .525. Overall he’s at .323 with 8 homers and 33 RBI.

Senior right-hander Kirk Washington leads the pitching staff with a 9-4 record, 7-2 in conference play, but junior lefty Mike Munoz, 4-8 but with a 2.09 earned-run average in CCAA games, may be the top prospect. Scolinos expects both Munoz and Weeks to be drafted by major league clubs.

The playoff picture will be determined on the road, which Scolinos plans for every year. “One thing I try to do is get these guys road-hardened,” he said. “If you can’t play on the road, forget it.”

Playoff picture: Claremont-Mudd will be the site for the men’s Division III tennis tournament May 12-19. The women’s tournament will be held May 12-18 in Kalamazoo, Mich.

The eight-team women’s field will include Occidental, seeded second. Southland individuals selected were Oxy’s Sue Hulse, UC San Diego’s Jessica Vernon, Claremont-Mudd’s Suzanne Katleman and Pomona-Pitzer’s Karen Nilsen. Hulse will be joined by teammate Kristin Carter in doubles. Vernon will team with Maggie Merickel in doubles.

The NAIA District III double-elimination baseball tournament will be held Thursday through Saturday at Southern California College. Thursday’s opening-round games will match Azusa Pacific against Westmont at 11 a.m., and top-seeded Southern California College against Point Loma Nazareneat 2:30.

Division II Western Regional play in women’s softball is scheduled for Friday and Saturday, probably at Northridge. The national tournament will be held May 16-18 at the University of Akron. Cal Lutheran won its first NAIA District III women’s softball title and will play the District 7 winner this weekend.

Northridge is also the host school for Division II women’s tennis this week through Saturday, and the men’s tournament, Sunday through May 17.

The California Collegiate Athletic Assn. will hold its track meet Thursday through Saturday at Cal Poly Pomona. Cal State Los Angeles will be the site of the Division II national meet May 21-24. The NAIA District III meet will be held Friday and Saturday at Cal State LA, and the NAIA national meet will be held May 22-24 at Arkansas Tech in Russellville, Ark.

Small College Notes Carl Giles of Claremont-Mudd and Shawn Lawson of Occidental were the outstanding men’s and women’s track stars in the SCIAC track meet in which Occidental won both titles. Lawson totaled 48 points for the women, winning two events and placing second in three others. . . . Oxy’s Vance Mueller, the Raider draft choice, set a conference long jump record of 24 feet 9 1/2 inches. . . . Biola’s Carl Johnson had his hitting streak end at 32 games when he went hitless against Azusa Pacific. He had hit safely in last season’s final game and the first 31 games this season. He is batting .392. . . . John Kaulback of La Verne set an SCIAC record by hitting safely in all 18 conference baseball games. . . . Pomona-Pitzer’s Pat White ended the season with 18 stolen bases in as many attempts. . . . UC Riverside third baseman Dave Finley went into the last week of CCAA play leading in both batting, with a .415 average, and runs batted in, with 40.

Cal Poly Pomona’s No. 5 tennis singles player, Debbie Jung, lost her first match of the season, but has since won 24 straight. . . . Junior Regina Juniel of Pomona-Pitzer was named to the Kodak Division III West Region basketball all-star team, as well as the American Women’s Sports Federation Small College All-American team. Teammate Lara Boyd was named to the AWSF freshman All-American team. . . . Chapman College freshman softball pitcher Casey Tacason was featured in Sports Illustrated “Faces in the Crowd” for throwing two no-hitters in the Cal State Chico tournament, followed by a perfect game against CCAA champion Northridge.