As Regional Site, CLU Field Strikes Out

In the eyes of the NCAA baseball committee, home-field advantage in the playoffs cannot be ensured by win-loss record alone.

And Cal Lutheran (36-3), ranked No. 1 in Division III, must forget its grudge when it travels to UC San Diego for the West regional beginning Friday.

Although Cal Lutheran was seeded first in the West and ninth-ranked UC San Diego (27-6-1) was seeded second, the two-team regional will be held at UC San Diego.

According to an NCAA baseball handbook, the first criterion in determining a site is quality of the facility. A team’s seeding also is taken into consideration but ranks third in importance.

“The fact that Cal Lutheran is ranked No. 1 in the country has nothing to do with the process,” said Owen Wright, La Verne baseball coach and West region committee member. “(It is) the measurements of the field more than anything else.”

Said Cal Lutheran Coach Rich Hill: “I’m glad that’s not the occasion with the big leagues because they would never have a game at Fenway Park or Wrigley Field.”

West region committee members said the dimensions of UC San Diego’s two-year-old field fit NCAA requirements better than Cal Lutheran’s field.

“UCSD’s field has more foul-line distance than Cal Lutheran’s does. That’s about all I care to say,” Wright said.

Cal Lutheran’s field is 300 feet down the lines, San Diego’s is 330.

But that doesn’t ease the frustration of traveling in the first round after a successful season.

“The criteria needs to be looked at and studied so that something like this doesn’t happen again,” Hill said.

WALKING WOUNDED

An unexpected visitor made an appearance in the Northridge baseball clubhouse before Tuesday’s game against Pepperdine.

Craig Clayton, who was presumed to be playing third base for the Seattle Mariners’ Class-A team in San Bernardino, showed up--on crutches.

Clayton, a first-team All-American for the Matadors last season, suffered a broken right ankle when he was caught in a rundown in a game against San Jose last week.

Six screws and a metal plate were inserted to repair the damage during surgery last Friday. Clayton will be in a cast for 12 weeks and might miss the rest of the season. He was batting .277 in 83 at-bats.

CATBIRD SEAT

Considering its status as an independent, the Cal State Northridge softball team earned a respectable draw in its NCAA regional, beginning Friday at 4 p.m. at Fresno State.

Not only are the Matadors among eight of 20 teams that will play in a best-of-three series (the remaining 12 will play in a three-team, double-elimination series), they will play a team they split with earlier this season.

After a 1-0 loss to Fresno State ace Terry Carpenter, Northridge pounded Bulldog hurler Marcie Green in the second game en route to a 6-1 win. Green allowed a school-record 13 hits.

While the Bulldogs threw their best at Northridge in that Feb. 9 doubleheader, Matador Coach Gary Torgeson did not use Cami Allen, his No. 2 pitcher, and Fresno got only a brief look at his best pitcher, freshman Kathy Blake.

Blake, 25-6 with an 0.59 earned-run average, had a rare case of nerves against the Bulldogs and was pulled in the second inning.

“Don’t look for the same expression when we go up there,” Torgeson said. “Kathy’s shown us since that she can handle tough situations. She believes in herself.

“I’ve got to keep calm and if I stay calm, that will help her.”

Torgeson plans to start Blake in the first game of the series.

The winner of each series advances to the College World Series in Oklahoma City, May 21-25.

FRESNO HOSPITALITY

Torgeson is understandably concerned about the Fresno State crowd, which is traditionally large (1,500 to 2,000 are expected), loud and hostile.

“They use every vernacular in the book,” Torgeson said. “No holds barred.”

In preparation for the din, Torgeson has blared the radio at practice but, he concedes, he cannot prepare his team for personal insults.

“If they say something personal and we’re either too sensitive or too emotional to handle it, then we could be in trouble,” he said.

Staff writers Mike Hiserman, Theresa Munoz and Wendy Witherspoon contributed to this notebook.