Once Near Top, CSUN Toppled

For the past month of the regular season, Cal State Northridge was ranked in Collegiate Baseball magazine’s Top 10. During that span, the Matadors won only eight of 15 games.

“As soon as we got rated in the Top 10 we stopped playing well,” Coach Bill Kernen said. “We just didn’t handle success very well. Maybe we got used to being the underdog, the little guys who people didn’t know very well. We were always fighting for respect and as soon as we got it, as soon as it happened, we went backward.

“What it’s been is the worst performance in four years by this program. If they like to be underdogs, they’re in the right spot.”

Indeed, Northridge’s season ended much the way it started. The Matadors lost four in a row to start the season and finished up by losing four of their final five.

Between slumps, Northridge was 36-6-1.

CAROLINA CRASH

Kernen was so displeased with Northridge’s play in the Carolina Invitational last weekend that he held individual conferences with each of the team’s players on the flight home.

After opening the tournament by defeating Atlantic Coast Conference champion North Carolina State, 8-3, Northridge dropped an extra-inning decision to North Carolina and lost in the bottom of the ninth to Wake Forest.

“We did everything we could do to make sure we didn’t win,” Kernen said. “If this was 1919 and we were the White Sox, you’d think it was a fix.”

COUNTDOWN

Time is running out for members of the Northridge track and field teams to post automatic qualifying marks for the NCAA Division I championships in Austin, Tex., June 3-6.

Six individuals and one relay team from Northridge have exceeded the provisional qualifying standard in their respective events for the Division I meet, but provisional qualifiers will be invited to compete in the NCAA meet only if the number of automatic qualifiers is below the desired number for a field in a particular event.

“Everyone is going to have to improve a little bit more if they want to make sure they’re going to nationals,” Northridge Coach Don Strametz said. “Right now, I don’t think anyone is in.”

With the deadline for posting qualifying marks a week away (May 28), members of the Northridge team will compete in the collegiate portion of the Santa Monica Distance Carnival at Santa Monica College and in an open meet at Cal State Los Angeles on Saturday.

Next week, Northridge will compete in a pair of last-chance meets, one at Mt. San Antonio College on Tuesday, the other at Cal State Long Beach on Thursday.

IN A HURRY

The Cal Lutheran baseball team, which will open play today in the NCAA Division III baseball championships in Battle Creek, Mich., left for its destination at 6:30 Wednesday morning.

Kingsmen Coach Rich Hill said he wanted the team to arrive early to enable the players to adjust to the new time zone. Cal Lutheran did not play a game this season in another time zone.

In fact, Cal Lutheran did not play a game outside the Southland.

That could explain why playing out of state is such a big deal to the Kingsmen.

“We have a wait problem,” Hill said. “We can’t wait to get out there.”

ELITE CLUB

Of the eight teams in Battle Creek this weekend, Cal Lutheran is the only one making its first appearance in the tournament.

Seven of the past 12 national championships have been won by four of the participants.

Because it is also Cal Lutheran’s first year in the NCAA Division III, the other teams are unfamiliar with the Kingsmen.

Ed Flaherty, coach of Southern Maine (30-9), which plays Cal Lutheran today, said: “I just hear they are pretty good.”

RESPECTING LAMPLE

Cal Lutheran (39-4) is batting .325 and its pitching staff has a 2.16 earned-run average. Those figures alone could explain why the Kingsmen are in Battle Creek.

But hitting and pitching statistics don’t tell the whole story. The Cal Lutheran infield also is strong defensively. Just ask Pomona-Pitzer Coach Jim Barker, whose Sagehens were swept by Cal Lutheran in a three-game series last month.

“If there is a better defensive team in (NCAA) Division III in the nation, I want to see it,” Barker said.

The reputation of Cal Lutheran catcher Eddie Lample is reason enough to keep runners hovering near the bases. In 38 games, Lample threw out 12 of 17 runners attempting to steal and picked off an additional 12.

“I just use my quickness to my advantage,” Lample said. “That’s one reason I pick off a lot of runners. It’s not how hard I throw the ball but how quick I release it.”

Lample, a junior who hopes to play professionally next year, played one season at Division I Cal State Fullerton before transferring to Cal Lutheran.

BURT’S BEST

Cal State Northridge football Coach Bob Burt called the recent spring intrasquad game the best in his six seasons at Northridge.

Burt was particularly pleased with the play of quarterback Marty Fisher, who led the “offense” to a 35-20 win over the “defense” by completing nine of 12 passes for 100 yards, including a five-yard touchdown pass to fullback Jim Warren.

“He is head and shoulders above the others in all the coaches’ estimation,” Burt said of Fisher, No. 1 on the depth chart over Damone Scott and Coley Kyman.

“Marty threw the ball extremely well and made good decisions. If he is healthy, he is fine. He’s matured.”

Scott completed eight of 12 for 107 yards and Kyman was five of 13 for 83 yards, including a 33-yard pass--the longest of the game--to Emilio Ramirez.

SPRING IN HIS STEP

Jamal Farmer, a former Granada Hills High standout who transferred to Northridge from Hawaii this spring, gained 97 yards in 10 carries and had four receptions for 43 yards in the spring game. His most impressive feat was a 70-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.

“He showed the ability to break away,” Burt said. “He outran a few people and he’s not even in great shape. He’s only gonna get better as he gains more experience at tailback.”

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