SportsScope : Wave Nine, Loaded With Veterans, Opens the Season Against Alumni

The Pepperdine baseball team is ranked eighth in the nation in the preseason poll of Baseball America, and Wave Coach Dave Gorrie thinks that’s about right.

“Realistically, we probably have the makings of a top-10 team,” Gorrie said. “We played awfully well down the stretch last season, and most of our team is back after playing ball during the summer.”

Fourteen lettermen return from the team that finished with a 38-21-2 record and was the runner-up at the NCAA Central Regional. Lettermen include four of Gorrie’s top five pitchers and seven of eight position players. All-American pitcher Mike Fetters and shortstop Andy Stankiewicz are the only regulars not back.

Gorrie will take his first look at his team in action when the Waves play host to an alumni team at 1 p.m. Saturday at Eddy D. Field Stadium.

Starters against the alumni are expected to be Scott Shockey at first base, Matt Howard at second, Paul Faries at shortstop and Jim Doyle at third. In the outfield will be Steve Erickson, Steve Kirkpatrick and Rick Hirtensteiner, with Peter Kuld behind the plate and Ruben Gonzalez as the designated hitter.

Reserves include Brian Allen, Chris Costley, Gary Kukaua and Mike Truschke.

Top starting pitchers will be Patrick Dubar, Tony Lewis, Doug Simons, Scott Singelyn and Craig Stiveson. In the bullpen will be Steve Dell’Amico, Randy Hacker, Kevin Kondo, Kipp Landis and Steve Scanlon.

The Waves open the season at UC Santa Barbara at 2:30 p.m. Feb. 2.

The UCLA men’s tennis team, which breezed to a 9-0 win over San Diego State in its dual-match opener, will play host to Nevada Las Vegas at 1:30 p.m. Friday and to the University of San Diego at 1:30 p.m. next Tuesday at the Los Angeles Tennis Center on campus. The win over the Aztecs was the 21st consecutive opening-day victory for Coach Glenn Bassett.

Bassett, whose team tied for third place with Pepperdine in preseason rankings of the Intercollegiate Tennis Coaches Assn., said he is still trying to find his best doubles combinations.

Buff Farrow and Tim Trigueiro, his only returning doubles team, played in the top spot against San Diego State. At No. 2 were Dan Nahirny and Otis Smith, and Pat Galbreath and Brian Garrow played at No. 3. Last summer Nahirny and Smith teamed for the first time and won the U.S. Tennis Assn.’s national amateur doubles championship.

The No. 9 Bruin women, who opened their home schedule last week by defeating Cal State Long Beach, 7-2, and Nevada Las Vegas, 9-0, are competing in the Riviera Country Club tournament, which ends Sunday at Pacific Palisades.

The Pepperdine men’s and women’s tennis teams will play in tournaments this weekend. The men are in the Adidas Invitational, which began Wednesday at the Grand Champions hotel at Palm Springs. The women, No. 22 in ITCA preseason rankings, are in the Riviera Country Club invitational.

Junior Robbie Weiss, top singles player for the men, has been nursing injuries and won’t take part in the Adidas tourney. Sophomore Augustine Moreno, a member of the No. 1 doubles team last year, is turning professional and has left the team.

Last week the women opened their dual-match season with a 7-2 victory over the University of San Diego. Pepperdine freshmen Carrie Crissel and Ginger Helgeson won their first college singles matches against the Toreros.

The Wave men will play host to U.S. International at 1:30 p.m. Monday and to UC Irvine at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. The women will entertain Irvine at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday and USC at 1:30 p.m. next Thursday.

The Pepperdine men’s volleyball team, which defeated the touring Israeli national team in a hotly contested five games, will play host to the University of Calgary at 7:30 tonight and to Cal State Northridge at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Firestone Fieldhouse.

The Waves edged the Israelis, 11-15, 15-7, 5-15, 16-14, 15-12. In the fourth set, Pepperdine trailed 14-11 and staved off six match points before coming back to win.

Pepperdine Coach Rod Wilde, whose team was ranked second in the nation behind No. 1 UCLA in the preseason by Volleyball Monthly, said the win was “an excellent overall team effort.”

“I was most impressed with our execution in the fourth and fifth games,” Wilde said. “Of course, we need to improve in many areas, but this team will be in contention for the NCAA title.”

The UCLA women’s basketball team, 4-2 in the Pac-10 Conference after beating Oregon, 75-71, and losing to Oregon State, 74-69, will entertain first-place USC (5-1 in conference play, 11-4 overall) at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Pauley Pavilion.

Scoring leader for the Bruins, 10-5 overall as the week began, continues to be junior forward Dora Dome, averaging 17.1 points a game. The Trojans are led by sophomore center-forward Cherie Nelson, averaging 20.9 points and 11.7 rebounds.

Pepperdine’s women’s basketball team, off to an 0-2 start in the West Coast Athletic Conference after road losses last week to Santa Clara, 66-52, and to the University of San Francisco, 80-72, will play host to Nevada Reno, 1-1 in conference play and 6-10 overall, at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Firestone Fieldhouse.

Last week’s losses snapped a four-game Pepperdine winning streak. In the first half of the Santa Clara game, junior forward Earnesta Grace, the Waves’ top scorer and rebounder, left the game with a sprained ankle. She did not play against USF. Grace is expected to be ready Friday.

The Loyola Marymount women cagers are also 0-2 in the WCAC, losing on the road last week to USF, 74-50, and to Santa Clara, 74-51. The Lions (4-13 overall) will play host to Nevada Reno in a conference game at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Albert Gersten Pavilion.

The Lions’ fourth win of the season came last week against Cal Lutheran, 94-55. Sylvia Bauer scored 21 points to lead five Lions in double figures, including Chris Hagemann with 18, Michelle Bettencourt and Cathy McNamee with 14 each and Chris Connolly with 10.

The No. 4 UCLA women’s swim team, which finished third last week in the University of Texas invitational, will be at Cal State Long Beach for a dual meet at 3 p.m. Friday.

Texas won its own meet, scoring 825 points to 683 for second-place Georgia and 533 for the Bruins. Three UCLA performers qualified for the NCAA meet in Texas. Freshman Missy Herndon turned in a 4:46.62 in the 500-yard freestyle and a 16:23.38 in the 1,650 free. In three-meter diving, sophomore Karla Goltman scored a 418.9 and junior Andy Littlefield a 413.65.

Pepperdine’s women swimmers (3-6 overall) will play host to Cal State Los Angeles at 3 p.m. today and to Fresno State at 3 p.m. Friday at Raleigh Runnels Pool on campus.

Last week the Waves split two, defeating Claremont McKenna and bowing to Cal State Northridge.

Wave sophomore Jennifer Gutierrez, a transfer from Texas Tech, has recorded season-best times in six events.

The No. 6 UCLA women’s gymnastics squad, which won its second straight meet of the season last week, downing Washington State, 186.85 to 174.95, will entertain Cal and UC Santa Barbara at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at John Wooden Center.

Against the Cougars, sophomore Tanya Service won the all-around with a 37.95, and freshman Jill Andrews was first in the vault (9.65) and in floor exercise (9.55).

UCLA men golfers again will be the host for the sixth annual Bill Bryant Memorial Golf Tournament Tuesday at the Industry Hills Eisenhower course.

Teams playing in the 36-hole event include Cal State Long Beach, Pepperdine, UC San Diego, Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Dominguez Hills and UC Santa Barbara.