Hall of Fame Selection a Pinnacle of Hiegert’s Coaching Career

Bob Hiegert, athletic director at Cal State Northridge, won many awards during his 18 years as head coach of the Matador baseball program. He was named Division II coach of the year in 1984, West Region coach of the year five times and California Collegiate Athletic Assn. coach of the year seven times.

But Hiegert, who retired from coaching in 1984 with two national titles (1970 and 1984), said he is especially pleased with his recent selection for induction into the American Baseball Coaches Assn. Hall of Fame.

“This is different from other awards because you’re being recognized by your peers,” said Hiegert, who was nominated for the award by John Scolinos, baseball coach at Cal Poly Pomona and a member of the ABCA Hall of Fame committee. “I look back on all the people who helped me in my career. A variety of kids, coaches and the association itself.”

Hiegert, 46, will be inducted Jan. 7, 1989, in Nashville, Tenn., at the Hall of Fame and Coach of the Year Banquet at the Opryland Hotel.

Other inductees include Dick Bergquist of the University of Massachusetts, Ken Dugan of David Lipscomb College (Tenn.), Ben Hines of La Verne, Charles Kaiser Jr. of Oak Park and River Forest High (Ill.), David Keilitz of Central Michigan and Joe Hicks of the Diamond Sports Company.

Going . . . going . . . Gilmore: Lenn Gilmore of Northridge leads the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. with 7 home runs and 30 runs batted in. He also leads or is tied for the team lead in at-bats (85), triples (2), total bases (54), slugging percentage (.635) and game-winning hits (3). He is batting .306.

Short relief: Cal State Northridge has begun to get solid starting pitching from Leo Ramirez and Cary Snyder in the past few weeks, and it now appears that the Matadors (9-17, 1-1) are getting bullpen support.

Left-hander Fili Martinez, who had been slated to be a starter, pitched impressively against Chapman on Saturday and may emerge as the short reliever the Matadors have been searching for. That role was expected to be filled by Chris Zavatsky, a transfer from College of the Canyons. Zavatsky, however, was removed from the team for disciplinary reasons last week, Northridge Coach Terry Craven said.

Big bat: Jon Egertson leads Cal Lutheran in hitting despite missing 8 of 19 games because of back injuries.

Egertson is batting .531 with a slugging percentage of .938. He leads the Kingsmen in doubles (7) and is second in RBIs (13).

Runaway: Thus far, there is not much of a race for the baseball title in the Western State Conference. Canyons (10-3 overall, 5-0 in conference play) bolted to a quick lead that is on the verge of becoming insurmountable.

“If no one gets them this week,” Pierce Coach Bob Lyons said, “it’s over.”

And here’s some good news for opponents. Freshmen pitchers Mike Teich, who was out for a month with salmonella, and Lief Christofferson, who had been ineligible, have returned to the team and should help bolster a staff that is anchored by ace left-hander Tim Nedin (5-0, 1.20 earned-run average.)

“There’s 25 games in our league and a lot of doubleheaders,” said Canyons Coach Len Mohney, whose team has won seven games in a row. “A lot could happen.”

Catch as catch can’t: Pierce scored 11 runs in the first inning of a 16-11 win over Moorpark on Tuesday, but the Brahmas are still suffering from a lack of punch behind the plate because no one has been able to adequately replace catcher Scott Cadenhead, who broke his leg against El Camino on Feb. 25.

Since then, the Brahmas have played seven games, during which four different players who have played the position have combined for just two hits.

“Maybe we’ll put a pitch-back back there,” said Pierce’s Lyons, whose team plays host to Bakersfield today. “Needless to say, the catcher is hitting ninth.”

Miracle mission: Good news and good health record-wise came Mission’s way this week in the form of East L. A. College.

Mission (1-13-1, 1-3 in the Southern California Conference) beat East L. A., 12-6, on Tuesday and plays the Huskies again today before traveling to Chaffey on Saturday.

Mission Coach Lee Fisher still thinks his team can salvage the season and be a factor in the conference race.

“I don’t know if it’s my stupidity coming out that I’m still optimistic,” Fisher said. “Maybe I’m looking ahead to what I know they can each do. They’re just slow getting to that point.”

All-American West: Eddie West of Cal State Los Angeles, a sophomore from Birmingham High, earned All-American honors in the long jump and triple jump at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships.

West placed fifth with a 24-3 1/2 effort in the long jump and was sixth in the triple jump at 48-6 3/4.

Giving it a go: Moorpark College’s Karina Hardman, a recent selection to the junior college state all-tournament women’s basketball team, appears well on her way to proving herself on the track as well.

She competed for Moorpark for the first time Friday in a tri-meet with Ventura and Glendale colleges. And although she had not competed in track since she graduated from Royal High in 1982, Hardman won the high jump with a mark of 5 feet.

Shooting for perfection: Valley College swimmers Dave Hale and Shawna Sacks are undefeated after three meets.

Hale, a freshman from Canyon High, is a freestyle swimmer who has won 6 races. Valley Coach Bill Krauss believes he has a shot at competing in the junior college state championships in May.

Sacks, a sophomore distance freestyle swimmer, was a JC All-American last season. On Friday against Rio Hondo, she qualified for the state championships in the 500-yard event. Her time of 5:26.8 was nearly 22 seconds faster than that of Valley’s Dave Worden, who won the men’s event at the same distance.

Meritorious service: Steve Ward, a 6-5 freshman forward who averaged 15.7 points to lead the Southern California Conference in scoring, was the only player from Valley College named to the All-SCC first team.

Ward was second in SCC most valuable player voting behind sophomore guard Kipp Penovich of Chaffey.

A tough out: Malia Ouzts is hitting at the same pace that earned the Moorpark College sophomore the Western State Conference most valuable player award last season.

Ouzts is batting .377 and leads the team in runs scored (14), hits (23), at-bats (61) and stolen bases (19).

Dandy De: Moorpark freshman De Dow is 6-4 with a 1.22 ERA and 49 strikeouts. She has 2 consecutive no-hitters, including a perfect game against Pierce on Wednesday.

Staff writers Gary Klein, Lauren Peterson, Ralph Nichols and Mike Hiserman contributed to this notebook.