Kingsmen Play Their Cardenas Right Once Again

A fourth-inning grand slam by Carlos Cardenas pulled Cal Lutheran within three runs and triggered a stunning comeback Saturday against Redlands in a key Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game. The Kingsmen, who trailed, 11-4, before Cardenas’ hit, took the lead with five runs in the fifth, and won going away, 21-12, to sweep a doubleheader.

For Cardenas, heroics are nothing new. In 59 at-bats, he has 20 hits--including a team-leading six home runs--and 21 runs batted in. . . .

Cal Lutheran’s comeback was achieved without Coach Rich Hill, who was ejected for vociferously arguing an umpire’s call in the fourth inning. . . .

With six conference games to play, the Kingsmen (24-5, 14-1) have a three-game lead over Redlands in the SCIAC. . . .

Eddie Lample, a defensive standout at catcher, raised his batting average from .281 to .324 with six hits in 10 at-bats as Cal Lutheran won two of three games against second-place Redlands. . . .

Jeff Berman was the losing pitcher when the Kingsmen dropped a 4-2 decision against Redlands on Friday, snapping his personal 11-game winning streak. Berman won his first seven games this season and was 4-0 last season. The Cal Lutheran record for consecutive wins is 14, shared by Tim Wimbish and Steve Dempsey.

JUNIOR COLLEGES

BASEBALL

Mission, which dropped from first place in the Southern California Athletic Conference for the first time last week, snapped a five-game losing streak Tuesday with a 13-2 victory over L.A. City.

The Free Spirit will try to begin a streak in the other direction when they begin a two-game set against front-running East L.A. today and Saturday in what could determine the conference champion.

Mission (21-12, 11-5 in conference play) trail the Huskies (19-14, 11-3) by one game. The Free Spirit is 3-0 against East L.A. this season. . . .

Mission has a batting average of .325 and five starters are batting better than .300: outfielders Jesus Perez (.391) and Rich Avalos (.368) and infielders Robert Garcia (.377), Marlon McKinney (.362) and Raul Flores (.328). Second baseman Jose Gallegos (.297) leads the team in RBIs with 31. In SCAC games, Mission is batting .360, led by Perez’s .479 average.

TENNIS

Pierce Coach Paul Xanthos is thinking about giving up coaching the team he took over in 1965.

Xanthos, 72, said the financial problems besetting Pierce and other California community colleges have increasingly affected the tennis program, and he’s tired of dealing with it.

“I’m definitely considering (leaving),” Xanthos said. “The facilities are poor and that’s too bad. Every time we play a match at Pierce, I have to apologize to the other team for the condition of the courts. (School administrators) have priorities and tennis is very low on the list.”

Xanthos said he receives $72 a week for two hours work, but he spends at least another 14 hours with the team each week.

SOFTBALL

It must have been contagious.

Antelope Valley right-handers Angie LePage and Heather Meyer, who had not given up an earned run in Foothill Conference play in 51 combined innings, surrendered four in two games last week.

LePage (19-4, 5-1 in conference play) gave up three earned runs in a 4-3 loss to College of the Desert on Friday.

Meyer (13-3, 4-0) gave up an earned run in an 8-3 victory over Chaffey two days earlier. Meyer still leads the conference in earned-run average at 0.27 and LePage follows at 0.54. LePage leads in strikeouts with 53. . . .

CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE

BASEBALL

Third baseman Andy Small credited his three home runs in the past four games to an adjustment in his swing. “I’m using my hips a little more and the ball is just jumping,” he said. . . . Small is second in the Western Athletic Conference in home runs with 12. . . .

Junior left-hander John Bushart has the lowest ERA in the WAC at 2.67. Teammate Keven Kempton is sixth at 3.04 and is the conference leader in complete games with nine. . . . Shortstop Andy Hodgins’ team-leading seven-game hit streak ended Tuesday against Pepperdine. . . .

Although his pro career could begin in less than two months, Bushart is trying not to think about it.

“What hurts a lot of college players is that they think about it too much,” he said.

“I notice (scouts) around, but I’m trying not to think about it in terms of my game plan. You don’t have any control of it other than to throw your game and play hard.”

A kinesiology major and fifth-year student, Bushart is more than two semesters shy of graduating. “It is tough to graduate here,” he said. “You don’t always get the classes you need and you can’t take more than 12 hours during the baseball season because we’re gone (to games) on Fridays.”

With David Prosenko sidelined because of a broken finger the past three games, Coach Bill Kernen has less flexibility with his four outfielders, all of whom are struggling on offense with the notable exception of right fielder Greg Shepard (.359 batting average). Kernen can’t give center fielder Joey Arnold (.252), a day off because Arnold’s backup, Jonathan Campbell (.253), is backing up Prosenko (.252).

SOFTBALL

* Who’s hot: Junior first baseman Tamara Ivie has hit safely in each of Northridge’s 10 conference games. . . . Sophomore right-hander Kathy Blake (14-1) has not lost in 11 consecutive starts. Before the start of the week, Blake led the pitching staff in ERA (0.87), complete games (14), innings pitched (113) and saves (three). . . .

Jen Fleming had four hits in eight at-bats Sunday, moving her into 10th place on the Matadors’ hit list in a career. Fleming, a junior, has 139 hits. She is batting .298 and .419 with runners in scoring position. . . .

Beth Calcante, Northridge’s top hitter with a .372 average, is batting a team-best .512 with runners in scoring position and is riding a 10-game hitting streak. . . . Vicky Rios is batting .328 (19 for 58) when placed last in Northridge’s batting order and .211 (12 for 57) in other spots.

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