College Notes : Loyola Heads Into Crucial 2 Weeks of WCAC Baseball
The battle for the West Coast Athletic Conference baseball title has boiled down to a three-team race that will be decided in the next two weekends.
“It comes down to who can win two series” is the way Loyola Marymount Coach Chris Smith sums it up.
Loyola has won 12 straight conference games to move into the lead with a 14-1 record. Right behind is Pepperdine at 13-3, then Santa Clara at 11-5. The four other WCAC teams have losing records.
The disparity between the haves and have-nots in the WCAC is reflected in the national polls: Loyola’s hot streak has swept the Lions to a No. 16 ranking in Collegiate Baseball and No. 17 in Baseball America. Pepperdine is rated 17th in Collegiate Baseball, Santa Clara 19th in Baseball America.
This is where the fun starts: Loyola’s final conference series are against Santa Clara this weekend--starting today--and Pepperdine next week. Santa Clara will close with its San Francisco Bay area rival, USF, the fourth-place team capable of playing the spoiler. Pepperdine plays host to USF this week. Loyola and Santa Clara play a single game at 2:30 p.m. today, a noon doubleheader Saturday and a 1 p.m. game Sunday, all at Loyola’s Page Stadium. Pepperdine and USF play a similar series in Malibu.
“We’re about where we’d like to be. We’ve taken care of business pretty well,” Smith said.
To this point, however, Loyola has beaten the teams it was expected to beat. “Realistically, the large job is ahead of us,” Smith said.
The Lions, 32-18 overall, are 15-1 since early April and have turned on the offense. They lead the WCAC in hitting (.323), home runs (48) and runs batted in (345) and are hitting .342 in WCAC games. In individual statistics, catcher Miah Bradbury, coming off a .500 week, has taken the conference lead at .402 and outfielder Travis Tarchione is fourth at .374. Third baseman Rick Allen leads in home runs (10) and RBIs (56).
However, the WCAC’s series format of four games in three days puts a premium on pitching, and Loyola may have to hit well against the league’s two best pitching staffs to overcome its own pitching inconsistency.
The Lions have gotten a lift lately from left-hander Steve Surico, who is 3-0 in WCAC games after a slow start. Kalani Bush continues to lead the staff with a 10-2 mark. However, Smith virtually exhausted his staff last weekend in a four-game sweep of Nevada-Reno.
The pitchers, including Bush, had a particularly rough day in Saturday’s doubleheader. Smith made eight pitching changes and two hurlers had to work in both games as Loyola won each in its last at-bat. “I hate that. I hate having to be in that position,” Smith said.
The Lions need to get some innings out of the starters against Santa Clara, which has an offense close to Loyola’s in run production and power.
The Broncos, 35-16, who had an 11-game winning streak snapped Monday by St. Mary’s, have one of the WCAC’s leading hitters in second baseman Ed Giovanola at .393 and one of the top power hitters in catcher Troy Buckley (eight homers, 50 RBIs). Outfielder Bruce Powers is hitting .397 in conference games. The Broncos, who have a team average of .311 overall and .339 in conference, have outscored Loyola, 390-386.
If Santa Clara has an edge, however, it’s the pitching combo of Greg Gohr, 10-4, and reliever Larry Donahe, 7-0. Gohr is scheduled to start today.
Pepperdine, 32-13, batting .307, doesn’t score as much as the other two but has power--41 home runs--and may have the best 1-2 pitching punch in Sean Casey, with seven victories including two shutouts, and Britt Craven, who is 8-2 and leads the WCAC with 79 strikeouts. He has three straight complete-game victories. Also doing well is Wayne Helm, 4-3 with 73 strikeouts in 71 innings.
The Waves have two of the WCAC’s top hitters in Rick Hirtensteiner (.372) and Matt Howard (.358) and are easily the most aggressive running team with 100 steals--well ahead of Loyola and St. Mary’s, who each have 71 steals.
Said Smith: “These are pretty good teams. Realistically, the season comes down to these two weeks.”
College Notes
Loyola catcher Miah Bradbury was named WCAC baseball Player of the Week. The junior had 10 hits in 20 at-bats. . . . One of Loyola’s hottest hitters in its conference win streak is designated hitter Mark Grafitti, who has returned from an injury to bat .500 in WCAC games. In conference games only, Loyola has the top three batters--Grafitti, Joe Ciccarella (.457) and Bradbury (.454). . . . Loyola freshman Joe Caruso has been the winning pitcher in three of the last four games. . . . Dominguez Hills pitcher Rick Davis is second among all U.S. collegians in strikeouts with 139 in 121.2 innings. With three more starts, he has a shot at the CCAA record of 170 set by Mark Wiley of Cal Poly Pomona in 1971. . . . The Dominguez Hills golf team finished sixth overall against mostly Division I competition in the UCLA Invitational at Industry Hills. They beat Division II foe Cal State Northridge.