The Colleges : Swinton Improves Study Skills After Proving Football Talent

Rich Swinton did not have to block any linebackers or smash headfirst into the middle of the USC line, but the Washington State running back is likely to remember this semester as the toughest of his college career.

A former National Merit Scholar at Montclair Prep, Swinton was one of five Cougars forced to sit out spring practice after his grade-point average dropped below 2.0 last fall. All five players were placed on academic probation and forced to reapply for admission to the university.

Local papers had a field day with the scandal. One story about Swinton in the Spokane (Wash.) Spokesman-Review was headlined: “Success gives Swinton an empty head.”

“I was really upset about that,” said Swinton, a sophomore who rushed for 1,018 yards last fall. “I didn’t think that was fair. I’m not used to having personal-type stuff in the papers.”

But Swinton concedes that Washington State’s surprising 9-3 season--the school’s best since 1930--was partly responsible for his academic problems.

“Washington State doesn’t win like that. We were winning and you just forget to go to class,” Swinton said.

“You’re physically tired all the time. If you don’t get used to going to class when you’re tired--and you have to get used to it as a freshman--then in later years you’re not going to change.”

Swinton did change one thing--his major, from business to sociology. And last Saturday he passed his first two finals of the semester. “I needed to get my head on straight,” he said. “I didn’t know it would come to this. I didn’t completely bomb out, but I bombed out enough to where I needed to be punished.”

Game on the brink: Northridge pitcher Fili Martinez finally got over the .500 mark Tuesday with his complete-game performance against UC Riverside, but he didn’t do it in the style to which he is accustomed.

Martinez, a senior left-hander, improved his record to 6-5 but allowed 17 hits, including two home runs and three triples, in a game that featured the ejection of two players and two coaches, the puzzling exit of an umpire and a three-run homer by pinch-hitter Denny Vigo that gave the Matadors a 12-10 victory.

“I just didn’t have my stuff today and it showed,” said Martinez who had given up just 67 hits in 94 innings entering the game. “I was struggling--just too high-strung at the start. I started settling down, but then all those crazy things started happening.”

Going bananas: Paul Xanthos has traditionally taught his tennis players not to flinch when confronted with stiff competition.

But in the quarterfinals of the Ojai Valley tournament last Friday, the Pierce College coach suggested that his top doubles team give ground to its opponent, Fresno.

Two feet of ground, to be exact.

Sang Kim and Mason Harris--a team formed only a week earlier--were consistently getting burned by the top-spin serve of Brian Beach, who was capitalizing on the Pierce pair’s backhand shortcomings.

Xanthos suggested the two assume an open stance when returning service, therefore making a shot to the forehand more tempting for Beach.

The ploy worked and Sang and Kim came back to defeat Beach and Ruben Castrejon, 6-7, 7-6, 6-3.

“It was one move and I was laughing,” Xanthos said. “It was just a hunch. I never expected the server to go bananas.”

Brahma bravado: Pierce’s hopes of qualifying for the Western State Conference Shaughnessy baseball tournament already had been squelched, but the Brahmas did not lack motivation Monday in their regular-season finale against Canyons.

With a win, Pierce could have prevented Canyons from winning or sharing its ninth consecutive WSC title.

“If we were 0-12 we would still come out to play Canyons,” said Scott Cadenhead, Pierce’s designated-hitter. “We wanted to play these guys to knock them out of the title.”

The Brahmas came close, but Canyons rallied for six runs in the seventh inning and won, 15-13.

Sting operation: Don Pedersen had a rough day Saturday, even before he played first base for College of the Canyons in a game against Valley.

First, Pedersen was stung by a bee on his left forearm. He was stung again when he fouled a pitch off his right foot during batting practice.

Despite the stings, he took his swings, hitting a single, flying out twice, grounding out and drawing a walk. Pedersen also made three sparkling plays on ground balls.

But he missed Canyons’ final regular-season game against Pierce on Monday after his left hand stiffened because of a reaction from the bee sting.

Pedersen was back in the lineup Tuesday for Canyons’ first-round Western State Conference playoff game against Moorpark, just in time to go one for four and ground into two double plays as the Cougars were upset, 9-4.

Hail to the Chief: Kris Kaelin, designated-hitter for Moorpark’s baseball team, is the tall and quiet type. As a result, he carries the nickname “Chief.”

“Chief” was a character in the movie “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” But other than being 6-foot-5 and rather reserved, Kaelin would prefer to believe the resemblance ends there.

Remember, the movie character was a patient in a mental hospital.

A shape-shooter: Lance Harper missed seven Northridge football games last fall because of a knee injury and the Matadors, who finished with a 6-5 record, lost five of them. Harper, a former All-City Section player at San Fernando High, alternated at tailback with Albert Fann before injuring a knee in the season’s fourth game.

He finally underwent arthroscopic surgery in February--more than four months after hobbling off the artificial surface at Idaho State. While rehabilitating the knee, Harper missed most of spring football practice and sat out a full-contact public scrimmage on Saturday.

Harper, who will be a senior, lifted weights and managed to take part in some bag drills during the final two weeks of practice.

“I want to take my time and make sure that when I come back I’m 100%, just like when I left,” Harper said.

Rest for the wounded: Cal Lutheran will play a nonconference men’s tennis match today at UC Riverside, then has a week off before beginning defense of its NAIA District 3 title. The Kingsmen need all the time they can get to allow their wounded to heal.

Top singles players Paavo Salmi (sore ankle) and Mike Genette (strained Achilles’ tendon) have been injured but both are expected to be healthy for the district tournament, which begins May 11 at Christ College in Irvine.

Staff writers Kevin Baxter, Sam Farmer, Mike Hiserman, Gary Klein and Ralph Nichols contributed to this notebook.