Small Colleges / Alan Drooz : Claremont-Mudd’s Wells Honored as West Region Coach of the Year

When Claremont-Mudd basketball Coach David Wells was named the Division III West Region Coach of the Year last week, he could finally hold his head high around the office.

Actually, it wasn’t that bad. Wells has the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference’s best record over the last five seasons. But now he can finally take his place among Claremont-Mudd’s award winners.

Wells is the second Claremont-Mudd coach this school year to be named regional Coach of the Year. John Zinda, athletic director-football coach, won the same award last fall. Wells brings to six the number of coaches now at the school who have been national or regional Coach of the Year.

Soccer Coach Steve Davis, tennis Coach Hank Krieger and swimming Coach Mike Sutton have all been honored as Division III national coaches of the year. Zinda and Wells join baseball Coach Pat Murphy as district honorees.

Wells has been associated with winning teams at Claremont-Mudd as a player as well as coach. His 21-7 record this season was the third time a Stag team has won 20 games. Another was 1969-70, when Wells was the school’s point guard.

Wells, who was an All-American baseball player as well as an all-district guard, has been the Stag coach for 13 years. Over the last five seasons, the team has won more games overall (79-51) and in the SCIAC (40-16) than any other conference team.

Now he has the hardware to prove he belongs. But he still has a way to go to match some of his athletic department peers. Davis, who was national soccer Coach of the Year in 1983, is a professor of philosophy who has published five books on theology. Krieger, a mathematics professor, will coach the U.S. team in the Pan American Maccabiah Games this summer.

At 21-14, the Azusa Pacific baseball team is off to its best start in several years thanks in part to junior right fielder Ralph Acosta.

The transfer student from Rio Hondo College has been hit by pitches 10 times this season, twice in the helmet and once in the face, an injury that required 15 stitches. Even so, Acosta missed only one game after the beaning.

When Acosta isn’t getting hit, he has done some heavy hitting. He has gone hitless only once in 20 games and is batting .413 with 6 home runs, 5 doubles and a triple, which give him a slugging percentage of .769.

Acosta still has half a season to shoot for the college division hit-by-pitch season record of 11, and opponents seem to be taking aim. The Cougars have been hit by 26 pitches.

Hot hitters: Claremont-Mudd’s Larry Schmadeka may be the Southland’s most torrid batter, with a .471 average through 27 games. Schmadeka is hitting .452 with runners in scoring position and has knocked in 31 runs. He’s one of five players hitting better than .400 in the SCIAC.

In the California Collegiate Athletic Assn., UC Riverside’s Jeff Goodale leads the way with a .453 average in 24 games. Azusa Pacific’s Leonard Avalos is taking aim on the school season home run record of 19. He has 12 through 35 games. The Azusa Pacific team has 51. The next closest Golden State Athletic Conference team, Southern California College, has 25.

On the softball field, Cal Poly Pomona’s Rhonda Wheatley is not only an All-American pitcher but is hitting .293 with 3 home runs, high in the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn., and has an on-base percentage of .530.

Outfielders Priscilla Rouse and Beth Onestinghel are waging a hot batting race for top-rated Cal State Northridge. Rouse is batting .423 overall and leads the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. with a .519 average in league games. Onestinghel is at .398 for the season and .514 in CCAA games.

Cal State Dominguez Hills’ Chris Haslock had a great day against Chapman College.

The Toros’ top reliever since he transferred this season from L.A. Valley College, Haslock was batting only .184 at game time but was penciled into the lineup. He responded with his first two home runs on the four-year college level and added a double, then pitched the final two innings of the 11-8 victory to earn his fifth save.

Haslock’s 10 total bases were one short of the school record. The right-hander leads the Toros with a 5-2 record, a 2.89 earned-run average and 7 saves.

Cal Poly Pomona will hold its third annual Bronco Spring Invitational women’s tennis tournament Thursday through Sunday on campus.

The seven-team round robin will also include Cal State Northridge, Cal State Bakersfield, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, UC Davis, the University of Denver and the University of Northern Colorado.

Pomona is 8-0 in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. and is ranked No. 2 in the nation.

Small College Notes Cal Poly San Luis Obispo will be the fourth-seeded team in an eight-team field in the Division II women’s gymnastics meet this weekend at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. Kim Wells and Mimi Phene lead the team. Qualifying as individuals were senior Monica Mayes and freshman Terisa Lacert of Cal State Northridge. . . . William Alexander of Cal State Dominguez Hills and Robert Jimerson of Cal State Bakersfield were named Division II third-team All-Americans by Basketball Weekly. Player of the Year was Ralph Tally from national champion Norfolk State. . . . Biola University basketball players Johnny Griffin and Lisa Jones earned NAIA All-American honorable mention.

Cleanup hitter Fred Hanker of Dominguez Hills has become the school’s career RBI leader. Hanker’s conference-high 38th RBI last week gave him 171 for his career. . . . Cal Poly Pomona has lost infielder David Ireland for the season. He was hit in the eye in a rundown. . . . Pomona pitchers have thrown 17 complete games, with left-hander Charlie Webb (5-3) finishing eight games and right-hander Tom Gorman (7-4) completing seven. . . . Danny Hand and Craig Jutila each stole home in a 13-6 victory over Lewis & Clark. Both were involved in double steals. . . . Azusa Pacific’s Jeff Jones tied a school record by scoring five runs without ever batting against Christ College. He was the “courtesy runner” for catcher Scott Winterburn, who was 4 for 4 with a walk. . . . Kevin Rankin pole vaulted 16 feet 4 3/4 inches, breaking the freshman record at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. . . . Cal State Los Angeles sophomore Sylvia Mosqueda set a school record in 3,000 meters of 9:17.9 to qualify for the Division I meet. She also anchored the two-mile relay that set a school record of 9:11.49.