Sportscope : Loyola Marymount 9 Starts 4-Game Series With St. Mary’s

The Loyola Marymount baseball team, off to an 8-0 start in the West Coast Athletic Conference, will stay home this weekend for a four-game conference series with fourth-place St. Mary’s College. The Lions, 35-10, and Gaels, 20-23 and 6-6 in the conference, will play single games at 2:30 p.m. today and 1 p.m. Sunday and a double-header at noon Saturday.

Third baseman Don Sparks has taken over the Lions’ team lead in batting at .393 and has 7 home runs and 49 runs batted in. Outfielder Brian Turang is batting .338 with a team-high 9 homers plus 48 RBI. Mark Grafitti and Travis Tarchione are tied for second in batting at .367 and Tarchione adds 39 RBI. Sophomore left-hander Steve Surico is 9-0, while reliever Darryl Scott is 6-2 with 11 saves. Freshman Mike McNary is also 6-2.

The Cal State Dominguez Hills baseball team will play three California Collegiate Athletic Assn. games against Cal State Northridge, playing host for a 2:30 p.m. game on Friday and traveling to Northridge for a noon double-header on Saturday. The Toros, two-time defending conference champs, are 3-14 and in last place in the CCAA this season. They are 12-24 overall. Freshman outfielder Vic Fresca, batting .308, has hit in seven of his eight starts. Ruben Jauregui (.411, 24 RBI) and Jeff Sears (7 homers, 24 RBI) continue to pace the Toros in most offensive categories.

The UCLA men’s volleyball team needs two victories this weekend to ensure a berth in the NCAA Western Regionals at the end of April. The Bruins, 25-9 overall, are 8-7 in the Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. and have league matches against Cal State Northridge today and San Diego State on Saturday. Both matches begin at 7:30 p.m. in UCLA’s John Wooden Center.

Three local golfers recently recorded holes in one at Harbor Park, all on the 160-yard eighth hole. John Figlewicz of San Pedro aced the hole with a 5-iron. Dave Hoshiyama of Rancho Palos Verdes scored with a 4-iron. Dona Pavloff, also of Rancho Palos Verdes, sank a 6-iron.

Loyola Marymount basketball Coach Paul Westhead and members of the Lions basketball team will take part in a sports clinic on April 24 at Leuzinger High School. The event, which will also feature Olympic gold medalist Rafer Johnson, is being held by the Richstone Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse to teach basic sports skills and build self-esteem in youths involved in the Richstone Center and the Lennox Afterschool Program.

Tino Tautagalao of San Pedro rolled a 300 game at Palos Verdes Bowl, sandwiched between games of 202 and 192. The 43-year-old Samoan, a chief petty officer at Long Beach Naval Hospital, was bowling with his wife, Loretta, and two Samoan friends in a quartet calling themselves the Rollin’ Coconuts. In the middle game he rolled 12 straight pocket strikes, with only the 10th ball coming in a little high. Tautagalao, who carries a 170 average, earned a free entry in the April 30 NFL Players Assn. Celebrity Tournament.

Franca Abbatiello and Lily Garcia, who compete for the West Coast Waves, placed second and eighth in the rhythmic gymnastics junior nationals and were named to the junior national team.