Kernen Fills 2 Holes by Hiring Old Friend : College baseball: CSUN coach names former high school teammate to assist on field and in promotions.

More than 20 years have passed since they played basketball together for San Gorgonio High, but at least one thing is the same: Bill Kernen still depends on Stan Sanchez for an assist.

Cal State Northridge announced Tuesday that Sanchez had been reunited with Kernen, joining his former teammate on the Northridge baseball coaching staff.

Sanchez, 42, will serve as Kernen’s assistant, replacing Jody Robinson who earlier this month was hired as baseball coach at Loyola Marymount.

At San Gorgonio, where they met as sophomores, Sanchez played point guard and Kernen was a forward on the basketball team. “He liked to shoot it a little bit,” Sanchez said of his new boss. “He was a gunner.”

In baseball, Sanchez played second base behind Kernen, a pitcher. Their relationship has remained close since high school. So close that when Robinson accepted the Loyola job Sept. 16, Kernen knew exactly where to turn.

“This summer we sat down and discussed it a little bit and both of us said that if anything ever happened, we’d like to hook up,” Sanchez said.

Sanchez comes to Northridge after four seasons with the San Bernardino Spirit, a Class-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners.

In 1988 and ‘90, he was San Bernardino’s director of community relations. In 1989, he was the third base coach for a Spirit team that won the California League championship. This past season he served as assistant general manager and director of baseball operations.

“I had my hands on everything, marketing, promotions, stadium operations, souvenirs . . . I was a liaison between Seattle and the players, set up public appearances with the players, really just every facet of the business,” Sanchez said.

His duties at Northridge will be no less varied.

On the field, Sanchez will act as a hitting instructor and infield coach but he also is expected to contribute marketing and promotional ideas for the baseball program. “This program has big-time status now,” Sanchez said. “It needs to be projected that way.”

Last season, its first season at the NCAA Division I level, Northridge came within three outs of winning the West II Regional and advancing to the College World Series. The Matadors, 44-18-1, were ranked 10th in Collegiate Baseball magazine’s final poll.

“We have the product,” Sanchez said. “It’s a sellable product because the players have ability and the program has national recognition now. It’s just a matter of making sure the community is aware of what we have.

“Once they see us, I think they’ll jump on the bandwagon and support us.”

Sanchez has seen it happen before. The Spirit led the California League in attendance three times during Sanchez’s tenure, with an average of 3,000 fans a game.

“The key of that whole project up there was to promote it in the community and get people out to the park,” Sanchez said. “Minor league baseball lives on concessions. You have to make sure you have people in the park.”

During his first two seasons with the Spirit, Sanchez also moonlighted as coach at San Bernardino Valley College. He guided the Indians to the state junior college playoffs five times from 1983-89.

Sanchez has been working with Northridge players since fall drills opened on Monday.

“This will probably be the most difficult year of the four years I’ve been there,” Kernen said. “We’ve had different assistants each year but before I had pups (as players). And we all learned together. Now, I have a veteran team and the new assistant has some catching up to do coming in late.”

Sanchez said he already feels at home working beside his old friend.

“We both believe that good discipline and a long, hard work ethic pay off,” Sanchez said.