Bigger Challenge Awaits Chapman Baseball

Chapman baseball Coach Mike Weathers says the Panthers’ step up to NCAA Division I from Division II was made out of competitive necessity. This weekend, Weathers will get his first indication of whether they can compete.

The Panthers’ first season as a Division I independent begins Friday at Moraga in the first game of a three-game series against St. Mary’s. Last season, St. Mary’s, a member of the West Coast Conference, was 32-25 and 24-12 in the WCC, finishing third behind Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount.

Chapman, which finished last in its final California Collegiate Athletic Assn. season, was 15-36 and 10-20 in the CCAA. However, this year’s Chapman team bears little resemblance to the last one. Only two regulars and four reserves from the 1991 Panthers return to join the 22 newcomers Weathers has recruited.

Most of the new players are community college transfers and Weathers hopes they will contribute immediately. But the coach is uncertain how quickly the team will come together.

Weathers has always scheduled as many Division I opponents as possible and Chapman has usually done quite well. Previously, he used games against teams such as UCLA, Cal State Fullerton and USC to toughen the Panthers for CCAA play. Now such games will be the norm--44 of the Panthers’ 56 games will be against Division I teams--and Weathers says he is realistic enough not to expect immediate success.

Seven of Chapman’s scheduled opponents reached the NCAA regional playoffs last year and two--Fresno State and Cal State Long Beach--advanced to the College World Series.

“If we play .500 ball, it might be a good year, who knows?” Weathers said. “We’ve got some stretches of games in areas that we don’t know about.”

Weathers is confident that Chapman’s Division I status has attracted players with the talent to form a strong team.

“I think the type of players we got in here were going to this level anyway,” Weathers said. “We were just fortunate to get them.”

Chris Briones, a freshman catcher from Brea-Olinda, is the prize recruit. Briones, who batted .427 in the regular season for Brea and was a 54th-round draft pick of the Houston Astros, will share time at catcher with Larry Stahlhoefer, a transfer from Riverside College who will also play third base.

The outfield features three transfers who were first- or second-team Orange Empire Conference selections: Buster Nietzke of Saddleback, Jason White of Golden West and Kevin Cook of Cypress.

First baseman/designated hitter Mike Giuseffi, who batted .432 as a sophomore but only .303 last season, is the only returning starting position player. Tom Puppe, who batted .359 for Cypress last year, will also get playing time at first base and designated hitter.

Trevor Rush, who started 50 games for Cal State Fullerton last season and batted .295, will play third base, and Cliff Anderson, who struggled at the plate for the Panthers (.197) last season, will play shortstop. Robert Reimers, who batted .341 for Rancho Santiago, and Ronald Palma, a transfer from San Mateo community college, will play second base.

Weathers is concerned about his pitching staff. Pete Coleman, who was 17-12 the past two seasons and had a 3.41 earned-run average last spring, is the only proven pitcher at the four-year-college level. But Coleman has a sore shoulder and won’t be available this weekend.

Once Coleman is ready, he’ll join Collin Klein, who was 2-4 with a 2.51 ERA last season, and James Thomas, a transfer from San Diego Mesa, as the primary starters.

Corey Giuliano (Saddleback) and Jason Hoggans (Lassen) will be left-handed relievers and Weathers hopes Richard Smith (Lassen) will be the closer.

Rick Witmer, Southern California College’s sharp-shooting guard, continues his scoring spree. Witmer, a senior from San Jose, scored 31 points in the Vanguards’ 108-78 victory over Point Loma Nazarene on Tuesday and is averaging 27.4 points in the last five games.

Witmer tied a school record for the second consecutive game by making seven three-point baskets. He made seven of eight three-point shots, leading the Vanguards to a season-high 17 three-pointers in 26 attempts.

Witmer was named NAIA District 3 player of the week for averaging 26.5 points in games against Westmont and The Master’s College last week. During the week he made 10 of 19 three-point shots.

In the past two games, he has made 70% of his three-point shots (14 of 20).

“His range kept getting farther and farther and we kept saying, ‘shoot, shoot,’ ” SCC Coach Bill Reynolds said. “If anything, he passed up a couple of shots he should have taken.

“That was definitely a Division I shooting performance and beyond.”

Add SCC: Mike West, the Vanguards’ 6-foot-3 forward, missed Tuesday’s game against Point Loma because of a “freakish” injury to his left wrist.

West, who had played every game this season despite a chronic knee injury, was hurt in practice Monday when a teammate’s elbow hit his wrist, Reynolds said.

X-rays were negative but West was told to keep the wrist immobile. The wrist will be checked again Friday to determine whether there is a stress fracture or ligament damage. West, a junior who played at Point Loma as freshman, was disappointed to miss a game against his former teammates.

“For him to complain, you know it’s got to be painful,” Reynolds said. “You couldn’t even touch it without him grimacing.”

Despite having its nine-game winning streak ended Saturday by Fresno Pacific, then ranked No. 19 in the NAIA Division I poll, the Christ College Irvine women’s basketball team received mention in this week’s NAIA poll for this first time in school history.

The Eagles (16-3, 4-1 in the Golden State Athletic Conference) received 25 votes in the poll, which unofficially ranks them 30th in the nation. The NAIA recognizes only the Top 25. CCI’s Nancy Geisler leads the nation in three-point shooting percentage (52%) and the team is shooting 45.2% on three-pointers, ranking it second in the nation behind Simon Fraser of British Columbia (50.8%).

College Division Notes

The Chapman women’s volleyball team has added Tori Heywood, a transfer from Scottsdale (Ariz.) College, for next season. Heywood, an all-conference middle blocker, is already enrolled at Chapman. . . . Tickets are still available for Chapman’s 13th annual Hall of Fame Dinner and Induction Ceremony on Feb. 11 at the Doubletree Hotel in Orange. Tickets start at $100 with proceeds benefiting the athletic scholarship fund. They may be reserved by calling (714) 532-6074. Ernie Chapman, a three-year football letterman and current Chapman trustee, and Don August, an All-American baseball player, will be inducted.