SPORTSCOPE : First Place Is at Stake for Cal Poly

First place in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. baseball race will be at stake when Cal Poly Pomona meets Cal State Dominguez Hills on Friday and Saturday.

The teams will play a single game at 3 p.m. Friday in Carson and a double-header at noon Saturday at Scolinos Field in Pomona. It will be the final meetings of the regular season between the teams.

Pomona and Dominguez Hills enter the game tied for first in the CCAA at 11-7. Dominguez Hills is ranked No. 5 in the NCAA Division II at 21-14-1 overall and the Broncos are 19-21 and ranked No. 17.

The Broncos tuned up for the first-place showdown by winning two of three games from conference rival Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in San Luis Obispo last week.

Pomona has been sparked offensively by the play of senior outfielder Ramiro Garcia, who has a .378 batting average, and junior outfielder Chris Hunt at .348. The top pitchers for the Broncos are junior starter Dan Mead, who has a 5-3 record, and senior reliever Geoff Johansen, who has a 2.86 earned-run average.

The Broncos will meet a Dominguez Hills pitching staff that has the top team ERA in the conference at 3.04. The Toros have an outstanding starting rotation that includes senior Vince Aguilar, junior Mark Tranberg and sophomore Armando Plascencia.

Aguilar, a graduate of West Covina High and Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, became the first Dominguez Hills pitcher to toss a perfect game in his team’s 9-0 win over Chapman last week. He has a 3-2 record and 3.64 ERA.

Tranberg has been the team’s top pitcher with a 9-1 record and 1.75 ERA and Plascencia, who starred in high school at Nogales High in La Puente, has a 4-3 record and 2.65 ERA.

After Saturday’s games, both teams will have nine conference games remaining.

Bill Odell, longtime successful coach at Millikan High in Long Beach, has been named men’s basketball coach at Azusa Pacific University.

Odell, 48, brings a 23-year record of 402-199 to the Cougars. He coached the last 20 seasons at Millikan and the first three at Northview of Covina.

His high school career may have culminated with Millikan’s CIF Southern Section 5-AA Division championship in 1989. He coached his teams to 15 playoff berths, eight league championships and four trips to the division finals.

But Odell said he was excited about making a move up to college coaching.

“The challenge of coaching at the collegiate level has always been a dream of mine,” he said. “I’ve been here on campus and I’ve seen the excitement that the students generate.”