SportsScope : Bronco Baseball Team Hits Road With an Impressive 14-7 Record

Off to one of its best starts ever, the Cal Poly Pomona baseball team will travel to Texas for its longest road trip of the season, starting with a three-game series against Houston on Friday and Saturday.

The Broncos, who have a 14-7 overall record and are among the leaders in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. at 3-1, will play Houston in a single game Friday and a double-header Saturday. Pomona will play Sam Houston State on Monday and Tuesday and Rice on Wednesday.

“We figure the trip to will help solidify our pitching,” said longtime Bronco coach John Scolinos, who has the most wins among active NCAA coaches, 1,111 in 41 seasons. “We’ll be playing against good Division I competition.”

Not that pitching has been a problem. Pomona’s pitching has been stronger than Scolinos anticipated, led by sophomore right-hander Wayne Koklys, who has a 5-2 record and four complete games.

Pomona has received its usual supply of solid hitting paced by shortstop Dave Hajek, who has a .415 batting average and 19 runs batted in. Outfielder Chris Butterfield has four home runs and 20 RBI, and infielder Chris Goldbach is batting .324.

“I think we’re off to an excellent start,” Scolinos said. “But it’s not how you start but how you finish that counts. We want to maintain it for the middle part of the season and finish strongly.”

Pomona, which will wrap up its road trip with a conference game against Cal State Dominguez Hills on March 29, does not play another home game until March 31.

After struggling through much of the early season, the Cal State Los Angeles baseball team enjoyed its best stretch with a win over NCAA Division I power Loyola Marymount and two victories over Division II power Cal State Dominguez Hills last week.

The Golden Eagles, at 2-0 in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. and 10-15 overall, will face another strong test at conference rival UC Riverside at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Riverside, also playing its best ball of the season, has rebounded from a 4-10 start to post a 14-12 overall record. The Highlanders are 4-2 in the CCAA. They have a solid offense led by second baseman Ty Murphy, who is batting .390 and has a 25-game hitting streak.

The Golden Eagles have hit well. Shortstop Mica Lewis is batting .425, third baseman Ed Pimental is at .359 and second baseman Brad Mengel is hitting .337.

Cal State’s pitching has not been as strong. The Golden Eagles have a 4.97 earned-run average and their top pitcher has been Art Salas at 3-3 with a 4.19 ERA.

The Cal Poly Pomona women’s softball team, ranked No. 14 nationally in NCAA Division I, will play at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas in a Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. double-header Saturday.

Pomona, which has a 17-4 record and has won three of its four conference games, has succeeded behind strong pitching that features freshman Nicky Luce and junior Lori Thompson.

Luce, who led Cypress High to the CIF Southern Section 4-A title last season, has an 8-2 record and a microscopic 0.21 earned-run average. Thompson is 5-2 with an 0.56 ERA.

Another pitching standout is junior Kris Rokosz, who has a 4-0 record and an 0.21 ERA and leads the team in batting at .339.

Coach Carol Spanks has also been impressed with her infield, which includes shortstop Dana Ramos and second baseman Alison Stowell.

“We’ve shown in some games that we have a capable team, especially in the infield,” Spanks said. “But we have to get pitching, defense and hitting to win.

But the coach said her team, which has made the NCAA playoffs six straight years, is making progress.

“Everyone seems to be jelling and coming around,” she said. “I think we’re putting it together. I’m pretty optimistic. I think we’ll do well the rest of the way.”

Leonardo Cuellar, former Mexican Olympic team captain and World Cup standout, has been named men’s soccer coach at Cal State Los Angeles.

The 35-year-old Cuellar replaces Larry Drayluck, who guided the Golden Eagles to an 8-8-2 record as interim coach last season.

Cuellar was an assistant coach at U.S. International University in San Diego the last three years and the Gulls posted a 32-18-7 record.

Cuellar captained the Mexican team that finished fifth in the 1972 Olympics in Munich and was a member of the Mexican national team in 1973-81. Cuellar also played in the now defunct North American Soccer League for the San Diego Sockers and the San Jose Earthquakes, where he also served as an assistant coach.