CSUN’s Kernen Makes Strong Commitment to Starting Pitchers

Scott Sharts throws 169 pitches in his most recent start. Ken Kendrena pitches 11 innings before getting taken out with the score tied. Cal State Northridge does not use a relief pitcher in six games over six days in the Fresno tournament.

Is a trend developing?

Not really.

Northridge Coach Bill Kernen historically has stayed with the pitcher he starts.

“I guess I just don’t take guys out of games,” said Kernen, a former minor-league pitcher in the Baltimore Orioles organization. “It seems like my guys have always completed more than half our games.”

This season’s Northridge staff has 16 complete games in 33 starts.

At a time when specialty pitching roles such as closers and set-up men are drifting down from the major league level to the college ranks, Kernen’s philosophy is becoming ever more unique.

“It’s another sign of old age, I guess,” he said. “I never thought I’d say I was from the old school.”

Gamesmanship: Canyons leads the Western State Conference baseball race by one game but trails second-place Oxnard by two in the games-played column because of rainouts. Every other WSC team has played more conference games than Canyons.

The conference race is on a one-week hiatus, but when play resumes Canyons is scheduled to play four conference games in six days.

“We’re very aware of that,” Canyons Coach Len Mohney said. “Next week is a real pressure week for us.

Canyons (10-10-1, 7-1 in conference play) is one of few teams with the pitching depth to weather such a storm.

Earlier, Canyons put on a postdiluvian performance worthy of Noah when the Cougars won six conference games in seven days after a series of rainouts.

No surprise: The presence of Oxnard near the top of the WSC baseball standings comes as no surprise to conference coaches.

“In the fall a lot of the scouts said Oxnard had the best team,” Ventura Coach Gary Anglin said of the Condors, who tied for last place a year ago.

However, Coach Dave Taylor said this is not the same team Oxnard fielded in the fall. The Condors lost their best pitcher, John Brookman, who quit, and potentially their best position player, Jason Luttges, who is academically ineligible, as well as several others. In addition, Pat Avila, who had a .436 batting average in conference last season, has slumped to .162 in conference play and .240 overall.

Despite the setbacks, Oxnard finished the first half of conference play with a 7-3 record, 16-12 overall.

Two statistics reveal the efficacy of Oxnard’s pitching and defense. The Condors have a team earned-run average of 1.91 in conference play, more than a run better than the second-best team ERA.

Oxnard’s ERA is also a credit to the double-play combination of shortstop Bryan Lovelace and second baseman Jeremy Herider, both transfers from Cal Lutheran. They have turned 29 double plays, whereas the entire Oxnard team had six all last year.

Change in plans: Derik Vett of Cal State Northridge is apt to make some alterations in his racing schedule this season after lowering his personal best in the 3,000-meter steeplechase to 9 minutes 8.66 seconds in the Long Beach State Collegiate Classic on Saturday.

Vett, a fifth-year senior from Buena High, figured that the race was going to be the last steeplechase of his collegiate career. But after trimming nearly 25 seconds off his previous best and moving into fifth on the all-time Northridge list, he is reorganizing his plan of attack.

“I think I can run a lot faster by the end of the season,” Vett said Saturday. “I mean, I ran hard today but I wasn’t that tired. My legs just couldn’t go any faster at this stage of the season. We haven’t done much speed yet.”

Vett has set his sights on the Northridge record of 8:54.59 (set by Luis Torres in 1981), and the NCAA Division I provisional qualifying time of 8:52.00 by season’s end.”

“I don’t think those times are out of reach,” Vett said. “Not after the way I felt today.”

Riding high: Sherdrick Bonner’s high-jumping credentials might be inferior to those of teammates Walt Stewart and Dave Swanson, and he has yet to compete in a major invitational, but the fifth-year Northridge senior still is undefeated this season.

Bonner cleared 6 feet 10 3/4 inches to tie Swanson for first place in the Long Beach State Collegiate Classic. Both missed three times at 7-1.

Bonner, a two-year starter at quarterback for the Matador football team and an outside hitter on the volleyball team, jumped 6-10 3/4 to tie Swanson for first in a four-team meet at Northridge on March 2. A week later, he cleared 6-10 to tie Stewart for first in a three-team meet at Azusa Pacific.

Stewart has a best of 7-2 1/2 and won the 1989 NCAA Division II title for Northridge. Swanson has cleared 7-1 and was runner-up in last year’s state junior college championships for Glendale.

Bonner cleared 6-10 as an Azusa High senior in 1986 and placed third in the state championships that year, but he has competed very little since while concentrating on football at Northridge.

Voice of experience: The Northridge baseball team has won 11 of 16 games against teams from the Big West Conference, a record that Kernen is tracking closely.

Northridge will play 19 games against Big West opponents this season--only two less than the conference schedule.

A strong showing in those outings, Kernen figures, would enhance Northridge’s playoff chances if a selection comes down to a choice between the Matadors and the Big West’s second- or third-place finisher.

Kernen has made no secret of this strategy, which means there is a chance that Big West coaches might share scouting information on Northridge.

Knowing most Big West coaches from his years as an assistant at Cal State Fullerton, Kernen acknowledged the possibility but added, “I doubt if they’re taking us as that much of a threat. And I also don’t know if they get along well enough to band together like that, anyway.”

20-20 vision: Northridge is ranked 20th among Division I baseball teams this week by both Collegiate Baseball and Baseball America magazines.

Statwatch: Craig Clayton leads Northridge with a .392 batting average, but the Matadors’ leader in on-base percentage is none other than power-hitter Scott Sharts, who has reached base 48.1% of the time and has more walks (30) than strikeouts (26). . . .

A bruised wrist largely has prohibited Mike Sims from taking a full swing for three weeks now, but he is still fourth on the Northridge team in batting (.312). . . .

A few weeks ago Tamara Ivie went on a hitting tear and raised her batting average to .191. After Wednesday’s softball game against Oregon, the Northridge freshman had her average up to .276, fourth best on the team. In 11 games last week Ivie was 13 for 27 with three doubles, two triples and four runs batted in. Ivie has 27 hits in her past 64 at-bats (.422).

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