Cal Baptist of Riverside Uses One Groundbreaking to Get Another

The baseball program at California Baptist College of Riverside has all the appearances of a groundbreaking season this year.

The Lancers have their best record at 22-6 and remain in contention for their first National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics District 3 and Golden State Athletic Conference titles.

The Lancers also got their first national ranking last week, No. 14 in the NAIA, and moved up to No. 13 this week.

But in the eyes of Coach Mark Benedetto, the real groundbreaking occurred before his first season as coach in August of 1988, after the departure of Coach Larry Harper.

That is when the Lancers literally built their program from the ground level.

“Probably the biggest thing we did was build our own baseball field,” he said. “The players actually went out and built it on their own.”

Benedetto said the on-campus stadium has been the best device for recruiting players that he could have envisioned.

“It has been a sleeping giant for us,” he said. “Now when (recruits) see our field, it’s always a big plus.”

The coach also scheduled a trip to Hawaii for eight games, starting April 13 in Hilo, but says having a good playing facility has been the biggest factor in the team’s rise as an NAIA power.

“I think it’s really just a matter of having the facilities,” Benedetto said. “I like to use our facilities to attract quality players and then put a couple of perks, like the Hawaii trip, on our schedule.”

Building a winning program from scratch is nothing new to Benedetto. It is the same pattern he followed in his two previous jobs as a college coach.

In his first stop, Midwestern State in Wichita Falls, Tex., he turned a losing team into one that won 92 games in three seasons. Benedetto found similar success at Western New Mexico from 1982 through 1987, posting a 168-105 record. He is the leader in coaching victories at both schools.

Benedetto is well on his way to a similar accomplishment at Cal Baptist. In fact, he thinks this team is his best.

“This is my 12th year as a head coach,” he said. “I had one team at Western New Mexico that was ranked No. 4 in the nation (in the NAIA) and this is the best team I’ve ever coached.

“Right now I think we have as much talent as any team in small-college baseball (in Southern California). We’ve worked real hard to get to this point and right now it’s coming into place for us.”

The coach said his strategy in building a successful program starts with attracting outstanding hitters and defensive players.

That task has never been a problem for Benedetto at Cal Baptist. The Lancers were one of the top offensive teams in District 3 last season and lead the conference with a .357 batting average this year. Cal Baptist, which averages 9.4 runs a game, is paced by second baseman Ric Slagle at .447, outfielders Chris Allen at .420 and Greg Chizek at .417 and catcher Tony Jamarillo at .393.

“That was my plan all along,” Benedetto said. “I wanted to recruit some good, quality hitters and defensive players. I knew the pitching wouldn’t be as strong at first but I felt that after one year I could go out and get some good ones.”

He said the key to the team’s development, after a 25-25 season in 1989, has been adding several top pitchers to the roster. Leading the way are junior college transfers Rodney Gaines from Pima Junior College in Arizona and Joe Sczepanski from Mt. San Antonio.

The Cal State San Bernardino athletic program has yet to claim its first national title but it is developing into a pretty good sports year for the Coyotes.

In only its sixth year of intercollegiate athletics, San Bernardino has already finished in the NCAA Division III top 20 in two sports and is ranked in the top 20 in three others.

The best result was in women’s basketball, where the Coyotes were rated No. 18 and finished at 24-4. San Bernardino reached the Division III playoffs and finished third in the West Regional.

The Coyotes were also ranked in the top 20 in men’s soccer and advanced to the Division III playoffs in women’s volleyball in the fall.

College Division Notes

Darlene May, longtime coach of the Cal Poly Pomona women’s basketball team who guided the Broncos to a 29-4 record this season, has been named 1990 Converse NCAA Division II coach of the year. It marked the second time in the last three seasons that May has received the award. She has a record of 426-95 in 16 seasons at Pomona and a conference mark of 154-5. . . . Senior center Niki Bracken of Cal Poly Pomona pulled off a first for Division II women’s basketball when she was named to the all-tournament team for the third time. The Broncos wound up third in Division II.

Senior forwards Teri Paine of Cal State San Bernardino and Anne Backus of Pomona-Pitzer have been named to the Kodak NCAA Division III District 8 All-Region women’s basketball team.