Free Spirit to Finally Settle Down

Since he arrived at Mission College four years ago, baseball Coach John Klitsner has guided the Free Spirit on a continuous odyssey caused by the fact that Mission has no home field.

This season, for example, Mission (7-12) played a “home” game against L.A. City at Harbor College. The Free Spirit regularly plays its home games at Valley and on one occasion played host to Valley at Valley. The same scenario occurred at Moorpark earlier this year and will take place Tuesday at Pierce.

Mission usually practices at Alemany High, but scheduling problems also have forced the team to conduct practices at Sylmar High and Birmingham High.

“In our situation, with rainouts and makeups, we just have to go where we can play,” Klitsner said. “I’d take any place to call home.”

Mission might soon have one. The school’s long-awaited plans to refurbish a lighted field at El Cariso Park in Sylmar are near the implementation stage.

“We have the plans drawn, we have the money, and the contractor,” Klitsner said of the three-month project, which will cost between $100,000 and $140,000. Final approval from county officials is expected next week, Klitsner said.

While talk of a home field is not new at Mission, having money for the project is. According to Klitsner, who is also the school’s acting athletic director, $100,000 has been allocated for the project and more than $20,000 already has been invested in plans and permits.

When completed, Mission’s field will be the only lighted baseball park in the San Fernando Valley.

Klitsner, a former coach at Sylmar, took over as Mission’s acting athletic director in January.

He replaced Carlie Tronto, who played a leading role in the drive to gain approval for the baseball field project. Tronto was promoted to another administrative position at Mission.

For Klitsner, the athletic director role isn’t his only new job. Earlier this week he became an associate scout with the Milwaukee Brewers.

STILL ALIVE

Mission entered Wednesday’s action with a 4-6 Southern California Athletic Conference record and an outside chance of reaching the state tournament if it can gain ground on conference leaders Harbor and East L.A.

Eric Duncan, a sophomore from Marshall High, has been the Free Spirit’s top pitcher with a 2-3 record and a 3.41 earned-run average in 60 2/3 innings. Third baseman Gabe Chavez entered the week with a team-leading .402 batting average.

Second baseman Jose Gallegos, who missed most of last season after being called to active duty with his National Guard unit in the Persian Gulf War, is batting .350 and has three home runs.

GROUND ATTACK

Nevada Las Vegas has won two of three baseball games against Cal State Northridge in each of the past three seasons.

Last week, the Rebels cooled off the previously red-hot Matadors, winning, 6-5, in 11 innings Saturday and, 5-0, in a rain-shortened game Sunday. In between, Northridge won, 6-4, scoring six times in the eighth inning of a game in which it played poorly.

Northridge Coach Bill Kernen said UNLV might have swept the Matadors had Rebel Coach Fred Dallimore not replaced T.J. Mathews, the Rebels’ starting pitcher, midway through Northridge’s second-game rally.

Mathews struck out Northridge’s first two batters in the eighth, but then came a single, a walk, an error and two more singles. With UNLV still ahead, 4-2, with two runners on and two out, Dallimore replaced Mathews with Danny Falcone--a right-hander with an ERA of 13.50--in what Kernen would later describe as “one of the weirdest coaching moves ever.”

Kyle Washington hit Falcon’s third offering for a three-run homer.

RECOVERED

Notable by his absence from the Northridge pitching rotation last week was right-hander Kevin Kloek, the Matadors’ team leader with a 1.90 ERA.

Kloek (4-1) was nursing an injured hamstring and experienced tenderness in the elbow of his throwing arm.

Fearing that in compensating for his leg problems Kloek might be changing his delivery and putting undue stress on his arm, Kernen gave him a week off.

On Tuesday, Kloek pitched live batting practice as a tuneup for his next scheduled start, on Sunday at home against Nevada.

FAST RECOVERY

Pierce, the second-ranked junior college baseball team in the state, could have first baseman Brian Smith back in the lineup as early as next week.

Smith, a sophomore transfer from Arizona State, suffered a sprained ankle last Thursday after a collision at first base in a victory over Santa Monica. At the time of the injury, Smith was batting .395 (15 for 38) in Western State Conference play with a conference leading 22 runs batted in 11 WSC games.

SHORT ORDER

Not only did Pierce (19-2-1) lose Smith’s bat because of the ankle injury, the Brahma infielders lost over half a foot in their throwing target at first when 5-foot-10 Herman Merchan took over for Smith.

But Lofrano expressed confidence in Merchan, a freshman middle infielder from El Camino Real High who has become the top backup at every infield position for the Brahmas.

“My first basemen have usually been middle infielders because of their agility and hand coordination,” Lofrano said. “Herman fits that role.”

Merchan also has gone five for 12 in WSC play with three extra-base hits.

Pierce (11-1 in WSC play) is scheduled to play second-place Ventura (9-2) on Friday at Ventura in the first of two conference meetings between the teams.

NAME GAME

None had the top performances in their respective events but several big-name track and field athletes competed in the Northridge Invitational on Saturday.

Dave Johnson, the No. 2-ranked decathlete in the world in 1989 and ‘90, competed in the 100 meters and the discus.

Innocent Egbunike of Nigeria, the silver medalist in the 400 in the 1987 World Championships, ran in the 800.

Willie Gault, a wide receiver for the Los Angeles Raiders and the bronze medalist in the 110-meter high hurdles in the 1983 World Championships, competed in the high hurdles and the 100.

Big names also abounded in the women’s events as sisters Sherri Howard and Denean Howard-Hill competed in the 100 and 200 meters, and Pam Marshall ran in the 100.

Howard and Howard-Hill have been members of the past three U. S. Olympic teams in either the 400 meters or on the 1,600-meter relay team, and Marshall finished fourth in the 200 and eighth in the 100 in the 1987 World Championships.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Northridge football Coach Bob Burt finished assembling his coaching staff before spring drills begin April 21 with the addition Tuesday of assistants LeRoy Irvin, a former L.A. Rams defensive back, and Jeff Feldman, but he is still recruiting players.

“We are trying to pick up a few more high school kids who were overlooked, like Travis (Hall),” Burt said, referring to the Chaminade High quarterback-defensive back who has committed to CSUN.

Burt won’t go as far as saying that this is his best recruiting class in his six seasons at Northridge, but he is enthused about it.

“It has been a very, very good recruiting class from the standpoint of potential,” Burt said. “The question is will they live up to their potential. The potential for both junior college and high school recruits is very good.”

COACHING LINEUP

The addition of Irvin as defensive backs coach will allow defensive coordinator Mark Banker, who used to coach the secondary, more time to concentrate on the entire defense.

Feldman will coach quarterbacks and wide receivers, replacing Pat Degnan, who is leaving to become head coach at Alemany High. Degnan coached quarterbacks and was the assistant head coach at Northridge.

The staff also includes newcomers Dan Barnes (offensive line), Pat Blackburn (inside linebackers), Jim Clawson (outside linebackers) and Cornell Ward, a graduate assistant who will help with wide receivers.

The Matadors’ spring intrasquad scrimmage is scheduled for May 9.

Ron Twersky and staff writers Mike Hiserman, Theresa Munoz and John Ortega contributed to this notebook.