THE COLLEGES : Clayton Makes Good on 2 Fronts for CSUN

Pitchers are not supposed to be good hitters, but Northridge’s Craig Clayton is certainly an exception.

In the eight games he has started on the mound, the sophomore is batting .515 (17 for 33).

Overall, Clayton ranks among the top five in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. with a batting average of .398, which is about his average (.400, eight for 20) during the five games in which he has been the winning pitcher.

Losing apparently stokes an even more competitive fire at the plate. In his three losses, Clayton has nine hits in 13 at-bats, a .692 average.

Grand theft, guard: Oregon State plucked Gary Payton out of Skyline High in Oakland five years ago and he went on to grace the cover of national magazines and become an All-American.

Beaver coaches were combing the Bay Area again last week in search of new talent.

And again, they found it in a Skyline game. Only this time it was a player from the opposing team.

His name: Dorian Manigo from San Francisco Riordan High.

However, recruiters left disappointed when they learned Manigo was already taken. Last November, the 6-foot guard committed to Cal State Northridge during the NCAA’s early signing period.

Manigo, the most valuable player in the West Catholic Athletic League, scored 25 points Saturday night as Riordan (29-3) fell to Mater Dei, 62-60, in the Division I state championship game in Oakland.

“He plays the game to the theme of Jaws,” said Vern Harris, veteran high school reporter for the San Francisco Examiner. “He sort of cruises around the court and then pounces like the shark, whether it be on a steal, or making a pass or scoring.”

Manigo is a good enough ballhandler to play point guard, but Harris believes his future is at off-guard.

Manigo is the second Riordan player in two years to sign with Northridge. Percy Fisher, a 6-7 frontcourt reserve, showed great potential for the Matadors during the past season.

On the flip side: Well, one out of two isn’t bad. The other basketball player Northridge signed early, Mark Wilkinson of Foothill High in Santa Ana, appears headed for junior college.

Jim Reames, Wilkinson’s coach, said the 6-4 standout is going to night school in an attempt to raise his grades to NCAA Division I entrance standards. But the odds of him succeeding don’t look good.

Even if Wilkinson, the Century League’s most valuable player, meets core curriculum requirements, he still must pass the Scholastic Aptitude Test to be eligible.

Wilkinson, a great leaper with major-college quickness, averaged 20.1 points and 6.9 rebounds and shot 56%.

Two-liners: Tom Parada, a former basketball standout at St. Francis High, was a hit during a halftime segment on ESPN last week. Parada, a 5-foot-1 guard who made Cal State Fullerton’s team as a freshman walk-on this season, did a commendable Dick Vitale impression. . . .

Pete Cassidy, Northridge basketball coach, and Pete Accardy, CSUN’s swimming coach, were college teammates in 1959-60 on the basketball team of what was then known as San Fernando Valley State. Asked which was the better basketball player, Cassidy diplomatically replied, “(Accardy) was a better swimmer than I was.”

The NCAA Division II swimming and diving championships had been over for two days, but Northridge on Monday was still protesting (to no avail) its disqualification in the women’s 400-yard medley relay. A violation during the race cost the Lady Matadors a chance to win their fourth consecutive championship.

Rally of Kingsmen: When Rich Hill, Cal Lutheran’s baseball coach, says, “We don’t ever feel like we’re out of a ballgame,” he speaks from experience.

Seven of the Kingsmen’s 11 wins this season are of the come-from-behind variety.

The all-region team: The frontcourt would include Don MacLean and Trevor Wilson of UCLA and Gary Gray of UC Santa Barbara. In the backcourt would be Adonis Jordan of Kansas and Mitchell Butler of UCLA. Off the bench would come Harvey Mason of Arizona, Mark Robinson of Indiana, Stacey Cvijanovich and Travis Bice of Nevada Las Vegas, Keith Owens of UCLA and Richard Branham of Cal.

The NCAA Division I basketball tournament included 11 players from high schools in the region, including three from Cleveland (Wilson, Jordan and Branham) and Simi Valley (MacLean, Robinson and Bice).

Gray went to Granada Hills, Butler to Oakwood, Mason to Crescenta Valley, Cvijanovich to Santa Clara and Owens to Birmingham.