7 Northridge Players on All-CCAA Teams

Craig Clayton of Cal State Northridge was named the California Collegiate Athletic Assn.’s Pitcher of the Year while teammates Scott Sharts and Denny Vigo were selected to the all-conference first team.

In all, the 39-member team announced Monday included seven players from Cal State Northridge, which tied for the conference title.

But the sentiment around the Matador clubhouse a day later was that it was not nearly enough.

Clayton, a sophomore right-hander who led the CCAA in victories with 12 and also batted .390, was bypassed in favor of UC Riverside’s Pete Weber in player-of-the-year balloting by conference coaches. Weber, a senior, was among the conference leaders in runs batted in and batting average.

“He’s an outstanding college baseball player, there’s no doubt about it,” CSUN Coach Bill Kernen said. “But he’s not the player of the year in this conference. Clayton just has to be. He hits .400 and leads the league in wins. I’ve never seen a guy do that before.”

Weber was among 10 Riverside players selected for the squad. Including Weber, the Highlanders had four players on the first team, four on the second and two honorable-mention picks.

On the second team from Northridge was sophomore outfielder Greg Shockey, who batted .321, and pitcher Vale Lopez, who was 9-4.

Receiving honorable mention from CSUN were Scott Richardson, a freshman second baseman, and Eric Johnson, a freshman outfielder. Riverside’s Jack Smitheran was named coach of the year. Kernen, who took his team to a share of the title while starting four freshman and four sophomores, received two votes.