Wall Damage Notwithstanding, CSUN to Play First Home Game

Despite damage to the outfield wall at Matador Field, Cal State Northridge will play its first home baseball game of the season, meeting third-ranked Cal State Fullerton on Saturday at 1 p.m.

The wall, which is made of concrete brick, is lower at some places than others because several top pieces were dislodged during the Jan. 17 earthquake.

Barry Smith, Northridge’s sports information director, said the umpires and coaches must agree on ground rules before the game.

The wall is expected to be either repaired or replaced by a chain-link fence before Northridge’s next home game, March 11 against Hawaii.

“There is a list of priorities on campus for fixing,” Smith said, “but (the baseball field) is not high on the list.”

Basketball

Stanley Roberts, injured center for the Clippers, is spearheading a fund-raising effort to help John Flowers, a former Northridge recruit.

Last February, Joshua Hay, an 11-year-old Northridge ball boy, helped organize a charity free-throw event at halftime of a Northridge game against St. Mary’s.

The Clippers have agreed to sponsor a similar fund-raising effort on March 31, at halftime of their game against the Phoenix Suns.

At a tip-off event Tuesday at the El Matador Restaurant in Northridge, Roberts will outline a three-pronged plan that has been devised to raise money for the Flowers family to pay medical bills.

Flowers, who lives in Glendale, Ariz., near Phoenix, lost both legs in a car accident in August, 1992, only a few days before he was scheduled to fly to Northridge and enroll in school.

Information: 818-349-3932.

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The Alemany High girls’ team, whose school gym was condemned because of earthquake damage, will play its first-round playoff game at St. Francis High on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

Alemany, ranked fifth in the state and seeded No. 1 in the Southern Section Division II-A playoffs, will play Katella.