COLLEGE NOTEBOOK : Johnson Gets More Than His Share of Credit

Eric Johnson, Cal Lutheran’s slugging first baseman and outfielder, was named most valuable player after the Kingsmen swept to the championship of the UC San Diego tournament last week, outscoring the opposition, 44-11.

Johnson, who is batting .390 with seven doubles, a triple, three home runs and 24 runs batted in, is having a big season. But did he deserve the award? Perhaps not.

In studying the box scores from the tournament, John Anthony, Cal Lutheran sports information director, noticed that Johnson was credited with a three-run home run in a 13-3 win over Eastern Connecticut State.

Anthony seemed to recall that Joe Gordon, not Johnson, hit the homer. Marty Slimak, Cal Lutheran’s pitching coach, also recalled it that way.

Curious, Anthony called Johnson, who confirmed it was Gordon.

“We took the home run away from him in our stats,” Anthony said, “but I don’t think they can take the award from him. He still had a great tournament.”

Cal Lutheran has a .331 batting average, led by shortstop Gabe Diaz, who is batting .402 with 10 doubles. Second baseman Joe Cascione is batting .385 with six doubles, three triples and four home runs.

Carlos Cardenas, whose five home runs tie him with Chris Fick for the team lead, also has three doubles and a triple in only 41 at-bats.

Meanwhile, the pitching staff has been dominant with 179 strikeouts in 187 innings. Jeff Berman is 6-0 with a 1.22 earned-run average. Mike Winslow is 4-0 with a 1.87 ERA. Berman is 10-0 in his two-year career at Cal Lutheran. Winslow, in his third season, has a record of 13-1.

SOFTBALL

The Regals (10-5-1) are ranked 12th in NCAA Division III. Eighth-ranked La Verne (14-0) is the only California team in the rankings. The Regals play a doubleheader at 1 p.m. today at University of San Diego.

CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE

BASEBALL

Cal State Northridge’s three-game Western Athletic Conference Western Division series, today through Sunday at Hawaii, will be no island holiday. The Rainbow Warriors (24-11, 2-1 in the WAC) are ranked 15th in the Collegiate Baseball poll. Northridge, ranked 21st, is 19-7, 5-4.

“There always are distractions in an environment like that,” Coach Bill Kernen said. “If (the players) handle it OK and can be mature about it, I’ll try to let them get a feel for it because that is part of the educational process.

“I don’t want them in their hotel rooms the whole time, but that does not mean I want them para-sailing for four hours. There can be some recreation as long as it’s not physically exhausting. And if it is abused early I will shut the whole thing down.”

A sweep or two victories would keep the Matadors among the leaders in the Western Division race (Cal State Sacramento is 6-3, Fresno State 2-2).

SOFTBALL

Junior slugger Beth Calcante hates to disappoint her teammates with a poor at-bat. That rarely happens. After all, Calcante leads the team with a .353 batting average, six home runs, 25 RBIs, and--strange as it seems for a player who bats third--11 sacrifices.

She also hates to disappoint her father.

“I swung at a pitch that was over my head in the Cal Poly (Pomona) game and I told my dad it was a hit-and-run,” Calcante said. “But he’s not stupid. (He said), ‘Beth, there was no one on base.’ ”

The Matadors, ranked No. 2 in the nation, have hit 20 home runs in 30 games; their opponents have hit four. Last season, Northridge hit 20 home runs in 71 games.

MEN’S VOLLEYBALL

Northridge’s four-game loss against Pepperdine last Thursday was played out in typical fashion, Matador Coach John Price said.

“It was the same old story for us,” Price said. “They made better adjustments. We don’t seem to learn as well as they do during a match.”

WOMEN’S TENNIS

Amy Marks has a seven-match winning streak. Marks leads the Matadors with a 20-2 singles record. She had a nine-match winning streak earlier this season. . . . The only Northridge player with a losing individual record is Cindy Nielson, who has played in the No. 1 singles position a team-high 11 times. Nielson is 4-14 overall, 3-8 as the Matadors’ top-seeded player.

GOLF

Corby Segal was seven shots better than teammate Jeff Sanday in the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate in Santa Barbara last week. The performance, which placed him in a tie for 13th, allowed him to close in on Sanday in stroke average.

JUNIOR COLLEGES

BASEBALL

The new 30-game schedule in the Western State Conference is getting mixed reviews, depending on who is talking and from which vantage point in the standings.

“It stinks,” Ventura Coach Gary Anglin said. “I like the extra games, but not in the conference. It turns the conference into a wild shootout.”

The Pirates are 9-12 and 7-10 and not in title contention. But the additional games are giving Pierce (12-10, 10-7), the defending champion, and others time to rebound from early-season sluggishness.

“I like it now because we started out so slow,” Pierce Coach Bob Lofrano said before his team’s 11-8 loss Wednesday to Ventura. “I’m sure Canyons wishes it was a 20-game schedule like before. Now we have an opportunity to challenge Canyons.”

The Cougars (18-4, 15-2), who lead the WSC by games over Valley (12-11-1, 11-6-1), indeed could pay a price. But Cougar Coach Len Mohney still sees more good than bad in the reshaped format under which teams face each other three times instead of twice.

“You are asking the wrong guy,” Mohney said, laughing. “We would have clinched (the championship) already. But it’s OK. I sort of like it. The team that wins it will be a more legitimate champion and the statistics will be more legitimate. . . . We just hope we don’t stumble.”

Whatever the outcome, Valley Coach Chris Johnson Johnson agrees with Mohney’s assessment.

“I love it,” he said. “I don’t know if it’ll stay like this because of the added travel expenses and all that, but I hope so. It’s more like college baseball.”

Mission College Coach John Klitsner said recruiters and pro scouts have overlooked his ace pitcher, Josh Brown (8-0, 2.42 ERA). But that’s understandable. His name was not submitted for the state pitching rankings last week.

“He took advantage of the opportunity,” Klitsner said of Brown, a Birmingham High product who has walked only nine batters in 68 2/3 innings. “He only pitched 19 innings last year. He couldn’t throw strikes.”

Staff writers Fernando Dominguez, Dana Haddad, Steve Henson, Mike Hiserman, Paige A. Leech and Theresa Munoz contributed to this notebook.