History Gives Canyons Edge Over Harbor

College of the Canyons might want to throw out the season records when the 16th-seeded Cougars meet top-seeded Harbor in the first round of the Southern California regional baseball playoffs Friday. But there is one record that might be worth saving.

Canyons (20-17-1) is 4-0 against Harbor (32-7) in the state tournament since 1981.

The Cougars beat Harbor in the 1981 and ’83 state championship games and in the 1986 and ’87 regionals.

“I’m excited,” said Canyons Coach Len Mohney, whose team has lost twice to Harbor this season. “Deep down inside you always love playing Harbor, but your brain tells you you don’t want to because they’re so good.”

Canyons has won three state championships since 1981. Harbor has won three since 1978.

Young guns: None of the three Ventura County junior college baseball teams--Moorpark, Oxnard and Ventura--qualified for the Southern California regionals, but all are primed for strong runs next year thanks to some talented young pitchers.

Ventura will lose just one pitcher from its staff, Oxnard’s top three pitchers will return and Moorpark’s two leaders in innings pitched will be back.

Moorpark’s Mike Jenkins and Oxnard’s Joe Canfield were two of three freshman pitchers chosen first-team all-conference, and Oxnard freshmen Tim Salado and Juan Hernandez were named to the second team.

Now, if only the freshman phenoms can avoid the sophomore slump.

Baseball numbers: Pat Huston, Pierce’s 210-pound slugger, is eight for eight in stolen base attempts. “Pat’s a very good runner,” Brahma co-Coach Bob Lofrano said. “He can read pitchers, and he gets good jumps.” . . .

Northridge’s Greg Shockey had eight hits in 17 at-bats last week, including three doubles and a pair of home runs. Shockey’s .355 batting average and 15 doubles rank second on the team. . . .

Scott Richardson is Northridge’s hottest hitter. He was nine for 16 last week, lifting his batting average to .323. He has a team-high 18 steals in 21 attempts. . . .

Russ Henzie of The Master’s is third among NAIA District 3 batters with a .414 average. . . .

Canyons’ Bill Horvat leads area players in steals (22), is second in hits (55), is tied for second in doubles (13) and is second in runs (41).

Home sweet home: Cal Lutheran and Point Loma Nazarene will play 36 holes for the NAIA District 3 golf championship this morning, starting at 7, and the Kingsmen--and their top player in particular--will enjoy a home-course advantage.

The district title will be decided over the Sunset Hills course in Thousand Oaks, a second home to Cal Lutheran ace Brodie Munro.

Munro, who is from Thousand Oaks, has posted Cal Lutheran’s best score in 11 of 13 tournaments. He usually shoots in the mid-70s, but his best is a 69 on March 12 over the Los Robles course, which also is in Thousand Oaks.

Home run trot: Denny Vigo, still limping noticeably because of a pulled right hamstring that has not healed, had five hits in 16 at-bats last week upon his return to the Northridge lineup. Three of the hits were home runs, allowing Vigo ample time to get around the bases.

Standing out: The surprise of Northridge’s spring football game was Jess Garner, a sophomore-to-be from Agoura.

Last year, Garner was a reserve at safety but he stood out at tailback Saturday.

“He was a quality back in high school,” Coach Bob Burt said. “Because we had Albert (Fann) and Victor (DeVaughn) last year, we tried Jess at safety. He’s a 215-pound tailback that runs the hurdles, so he has a lot of ability.”

Garner, a three-sport athlete (football, basketball and track) at Oak Park High, ran for a game-high 32 yards in seven carries and caught an 11-yard pass Saturday.

Strength in numbers: One of the reasons Northridge was able to conduct an intrasquad game this year was because of the increased number of offensive linemen. Last spring, CSUN ran a controlled scrimmage because there were only nine linemen.

Royal racquet: The Cal Lutheran men’s tennis team will compete in the NAIA championships May 20 in Overland Park, Kan. CLU is the ninth-ranked team in the NAIA and senior Mike Gennette is ranked 26th among individuals.

In doubles, the tandem of Jason Munro and Paavo Salmi is ranked 15th and the pair of Gennette and Tomislav Zelenovic is ranked 16th.

Staff writers Brendan Healey, Theresa Munoz, Mike Hiserman and John Ortega contributed to this notebook.