THE COLLEGES : Johnson Finds His Position as CSUN’s Top Prospect in Baseball

Scott Sharts leads California Collegiate Athletic Assn. players with 17 home runs. Denny Vigo is right behind with 15. Craig Clayton is batting better than .400 and leads conference pitchers with 10 victories.

So which Cal State Northridge player is the team’s top professional prospect?

Perhaps none of the above.

The answer, Coach Bill Kernen says, just might be Eric Johnson, a freshman from Chatsworth High.

“He’s got all the tools pro scouts look for,” Kernen said. “He’s 6-4, hits for power and is a switch-hitter.”

Johnson is batting .286 overall but is second on the team with a .359 average in 21 conference games. More important, Kernen said, is Johnson’s on-base percentage, which is a team-high .479 in CCAA games.

“His knowledge of the strike zone is very advanced,” Kernen said. “And he’s a big, strong kid who is going to get stronger and already has power from both sides.”

Detracting from Johnson’s potential is that he does not yet have a regular position. He occasionally played catcher at Chatsworth last season but ended up seeing most of his action as designated-hitter. At Northridge, he is playing primarily in the outfield.

“He’s a pretty exciting offensive player,” Kernen said. “He’s already been drafted (Toronto, 33rd round) even without a position, which should tell you something.”

A natural left-handed hitter, Johnson has a home run from each side of the plate. He is second on the team with 11 doubles.

Making plans: Cal State Northridge Athletic Director Bob Hiegert will attend a meeting at United States International University in San Diego on May 3 to discuss the possible formation of a new Division I athletic conference.

Officials from Cal State Sacramento, Southern Utah State, Missouri-Kansas City, Northeastern Illinois, Chicago State, Youngstown (Ohio) State and Wisconsin-Milwaukee also will attend the meeting. Hiegert, however, will attend somewhat begrudgingly.

When he first heard about the proposal late last year, Hiegert believed the new conference might make a good temporary home for CSUN’s basketball team. But since then, talk has turned to an across-the-board and perhaps long-term affiliation, a prospect in which Hiegert is much less interested.

“The original intention of the conference, from my vantage point, was that it would really help from a basketball standpoint,” Hiegert said. “We felt that it might be a good move for one, two or maybe even three years for basketball. . . . Trying to schedule a 26-game season without the benefit of a conference is a tough thing to do year in and year out.”

The prospect of affiliation with such a conference on a long-term basis, Hiegert said, “could be a little prohibitive.”

Three-peat: Three times Mission College has led Harbor, the top-rated team in the state, 3-0, only to end up losing each time.

On Friday, Mission took a 3-0 lead into the seventh but ended up losing, 7-4--its fourth consecutive loss to the Seahawks this season.

“They keep coming back every time,” Mission Coach John Klitsner said. “When you get right down to it, it has a lot to do with experience. Our guys have done great, but maybe in the back of our minds, we’re kind of expecting them to come back.”

Mission (23-11-1 overall, 13-6 in the Southern California Athletic Conference) might get another shot at Harbor. The Free Spirit has set a school record for wins in qualifying for its first state playoff but will have more than two weeks between the end of the regular season and its first-round game.

Mission might schedule a game against Harbor in the interim, Klitsner said. Harbor has won five consecutive SCAC titles.

Clearing barriers: Glendale College’s Marty Beck enters Friday’s Western State Conference finals at Bakersfield undefeated against junior college, four-year college and open competition in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles this season.

Beck won the WSC championship and placed ninth in the state meet last season in the intermediate hurdles. It was his first year of competition in the event.

This year, his time of 52.35 is the third-fastest junior college time in the state.

‘I didn’t think I’d make it past Southern California finals last year,” said Beck, who reportedly has drawn scholarship interest from UCLA, Cal State Northridge and Boise State. “I never had any idea I’d make it to state. My form has improved so much over last year.

Looking ahead: The 1990 track season has not exactly been life in the fast lane for UCLA freshman Angela Burnham.

The five-time state sprint champion from Rio Mesa High has not run poorly, but she has yet to meet the automatic qualifying standard in the 100 or 200 meters for the NCAA championships in Durham, N. C., May 30 to June 2.

However, Track & Field News magazine sees fast times ahead for Burnham, picking her to finish fifth in the 100 and ninth in the 200 in its NCAA championship preview.

Burnham, who has personal bests of 11.28 seconds in the 100 and 23.45 in the 200, has run 11.54 (wind-aided) and 24.15 this season.

Kirby Lee and staff writers Mike Hiserman, John Ortega and Brendan Healey contributed to this notebook.