COLLEGES / ALAN DROOZ : When It Comes to 48-Team Field, Loyola Did Not Get Lion’s Share

The sun may have shone brightly on Monday, but the Loyola Marymount baseball team, which finished 38-22, had its hopes of earning an NCAA tournament bid washed away in a flood of disappointment and bitterness.

Coach Chris Smith watched the announcement of the 48-team field and paced anxiously with a jar of antacid. It would come in handy.

As the 48th team was selected--Cal State Northridge--reality set in. The Lions, arguably one of the nation’s best teams, were not selected.

The Lions had a lot in their favor, including a top-heavy schedule that saw them play all their games against Division I opponents. They won 10 of 13 games to finish the season, including two victories in the season-ending three-game series against tournament-bound Pepperdine.

The schedule included road games at USC, UCLA, Fresno State, UC Santa Barbara, Cal State Fullerton, Arizona State and Cal State Long Beach. Meanwhile, while Loyola stays home, the regionals include the likes of Alabama-Birmingham (27-28), Furman (24-25), Middle Tennessee State (28-31), Coastal Carolina (36-27), Princeton (22-20) and Towson State (27-21).

That leaves the Lions wondering what went wrong. The NCAA selection committee is quick to point out that conference tournament upsets cost several teams at-large berths.

Still, the selections don’t seem nearly as equitable as the NCAA basketball pairings, and the suggestion of expanding the baseball playoffs to 64 teams doesn’t seem practical--there are enough teams with .500 records or worse that don’t deserve to be in the tournament now.

“We’re shellshocked,” said Loyola sports publicist Bruce Meyers. “We’re still playing it back over in our heads, wondering what did we do wrong. People knew about us. The coaches knew about us.

“(First baseman) Joe Ciccarella is up for national player of the year. This is really tough on the seniors. They’ve gone to regionals every year they’ve been here. Smitty told them, ‘If you win (against Pepperdine), you’re in.’ They did everything they were told they had to do, and all of a sudden most of them will never play baseball again.”

Athletic Director Brian Quinn hopes to address the selection process at an upcoming West Coast Conference meeting.

“We’ve never had a member on the selection committee, or even an adviser,” Quinn said. “There’s no doubt in my mind there’s a lot of politics.

“I think more people from the West need to be on (the selection committee). Every year there’s only one coach from the West, and most of the committee is (coaches) from the Midwest and East.

“Tell me that makes sense in baseball. It’s just natural that people take care of their territory. The best baseball is clearly in the West and South, and the (representation) ought to be from the West and the South.”

Quinn would also like to see postseason qualifying tournaments eliminated from baseball.

“I really question their worth,” he said. “You play a long enough season that you ought to be able to determine a champion. Though if I was in some of these leagues with a 27-28 team in the tournament, I’d be smiling.

“I just don’t think anyone would disagree that LMU is one of the best 48 teams in the country. The main reason we didn’t get in is the play-ins and the upsets (in tournaments). I understand it (but) the kids deserved a little better than they got.”

If it’s any consolation, Ciccarella was unanimously named the WCC player of the year, with five teammates joining him on the All-WCC first team.

Ciccarella led the league with a .435 batting average and was runner-up in runs batted in (67) and home runs (13). He also led the WCC in runs (72), doubles (24), walks (49) and on-base percentage (.558) and was the Lions’ top base stealer with 19.

Other Lions named to the first team were second baseman Darrel Deak, shortstop Chris Gomez, outfielder-third baseman Rick Mediavilla, designated hitter Gerardo Perez and relief pitcher Joe Caruso.

Outfielder Mark Tillman and pitcher Chad Dembisky were named to the second team. Honorable mention went to outfielder Terrell Lowery, catcher Joe Testa and pitcher Jon Willard.

Mediavilla was a first-team repeater, while Ciccarella was on the second team last year.

Other major award winners were Santa Clara right-hander David Tuttle, selected pitcher of the year; Andy Lopez of Pepperdine and Don Jamerson of St. Mary’s, co-coaches of the year; and outfielder Jorge Paz of Pepperdine and infielder Adam Melhuse of Santa Clara, co-freshmen of the year.

Had the Lions made the 48-team NCAA field, they might have been hindered by the loss of all-conference shortstop Chris Gomez, who broke his left wrist last week at UC Santa Barbara.

Gomez will wear a cast on the wrist until late June, then faces several more weeks of rehabilitation that will cost him a possible spot on the U.S. national team. He was one of 39 players invited to try out.

Stat of the Week--While many coaches, players and fans were watching to see if Loyola’s Ciccarella could win the WCC’s triple crown, Deak sneaked past Ciccarella in the final series to win two of the three categories. With three home runs and 11 RBIs in the three-game series against Pepperdine, Deak finished with 70 RBIs--three more than Ciccarella--and 15 homers, which tied James Mouton of St. Mary’s.

Deak was named the WCC’s final player of the week after batting eight for 16 against Pepperdine.

Signings--Cal State Dominguez Hills men’s and women’s soccer Coach Marine Cano has announced the signing of eight recruits.

The men’s team will add defender Ken Hodge of Long Beach City College, midfielder Gino Cassanova of Cerritos High, sweeper Sean Kildrup, who is transferring from Cal State Northridge, defender Keith Martin of Marina High and defender-midfielder Leonard Ruiz of Mt. San Antonio College.

The women’s team will add forward Stacey Blough of Royal High, defender Christine Spencer of Simi Valley High and defender Joanna Ewserro of Riverside Poly High.

Toro baseball Coach George Wing also announced two signings: pitcher Ken Gajewski and third baseman Greg Bergeron. Both played at Cerritos College.

Notes

Dominguez Hills senior first baseman Darrell Conner was named to the all-region first team. . . . Former Loyola Marymount baseball standout Chris Donnels’ stay with the Mets ended Monday when Kevin Elster was reactivated, but it was a productive two-week sojourn in the majors for the Torrance native. In six games, the third baseman batted .250 with a double and three runs batted in. . . . Loyola baseball players finished 1-2-3 in RBIs in the West Coast Conference. Darrel Deak led with 70, Joe Ciccarella had 67 and Gerardo Perez finished with 58. . . . Joe Caruso led the WCC with nine saves and Chad Dembisky tied for the lead in victories with 12. . . . While starting 28 of the Lions’ 60 baseball games, basketball standout Terrell Lowery led the team with five game-winning hits and batted .407, including 11 doubles, two triples, three home runs and 25 RBIs.

The first annual Jay Hillock summer basketball camp will be June 23-27 at Loyola Marymount’s Gersten Pavilion. The five-day camp, open to youths age 8 to 16, will feature the Lion head coach and other coaches from college and high school programs. The camp will also offer instruction on Loyola’s fast-break system. Enrollment is $190 for day campers, $315 for overnight. For information and registration, (213) 338-4530.

WCC Standings

Team Overall CCAA W L T W L Pepperdine 41 15 1 25 10 Loyola Marymount 38 22 0 25 11 St. Mary’s 32 25 0 24 12 Santa Clara 34 25 0 20 16 San Diego 21 34 2 11 24 Nevada 24 33 0 10 25 San Francisco 14 42 0 9 26