Nelson Took a Ribbing After Howard’s Slam

Outfielder Kevin Howard had just launched a grand slam to give Cal State Northridge the lead in the eighth inning of a 9-6 victory over Hawaii on Sunday. Tyler Nelson, the Matadors’ third baseman, was the next batter.

Hawaii right-hander Mark Johnson, flustered and frustrated after surrendering Howard’s blast, buried a fastball into Nelson’s ribs and was ejected.

Both benches cleared, but no contact was made. Nelson didn’t join the festivities around home plate. He walked toward first base and didn’t make a sound.

“I had a feeling that (Johnson) might come inside,” Nelson said. I thought about doing something, but I don’t know.

“I was just happy that we’d taken the lead and that I got a free base.”

There was more to be, uh, happy about. Johnson’s heater left Nelson with a black-and-blue mark the size of a softball.

“Girls love this stuff,” Nelson said.

CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE

No Further Action

Johnson, a freshman, will not be subject to further penalty by the Western Athletic Conference, Associate Commissioner Jeff Hurd said.

Hurd said that generally only players involved in fights are subject to a one-game suspension. Though both benches emptied after Nelson was hit, no contact was made between players.

Then there is the WAC’s somewhat vague “special circumstances” clause.

In a game between WAC East Division rivals Brigham Young and Utah a few years back, Hurd said, a pitcher blew a lead by giving up a home run and was ragged mercilessly by the opposition. The next batter stepped in. The pitcher went into the windup, wheeled . . . and fired the ball into the opposing dugout. He was suspended for a game.

“That would qualify as a special circumstance,” Hurd cracked.

*

When Howard launched the clutch slam to beat Hawaii, nobody in the Northridge dugout was particularly surprised.

It was Howard’s third homer entering play this week and all three have either broken a tie or erased a deficit. What’s more, each proved to be the game-winning hit.

To wit:

* Feb. 13 at UCLA: With the score tied, 7-7, in the 11th inning, Howard’s three-run homer gave Northridge a 10-7 victory.

* March 6 at UC Santa Barbara: With Northridge trailing by a run, Howard’s two-run homer in the eighth gave the Matadors a 5-4 victory.

“That’s one of the reasons we recruited him,” Coach Bill Kernen said.

Howard’s most significant blow came two years ago in the state junior college championship game, when he was a freshman at Fresno City College.

With the score tied and two out in the bottom of the ninth, he singled home a run that beat Sacramento City, 3-2.

*

It is unquestionably the highest compliment Kernen can give a hitter.

He believes in placing his best hitter in the leadoff position to maximize his number of at-bats.

Former Matador All-American Craig Clayton, one of the best players in Kernen’s six years at Northridge, was a leadoff hitter.

Eric Gillespie, swinging the hottest bat on the team, was elevated to the leadoff position March 5. Gillespie’s impression of life at the top of the order?

“Can I say no comment?” Gillespie said, laughing. “I don’t mean to sound greedy, but hitting leadoff, you need a different type of mentality. I like driving in runs.”

Gillespie, a freshman, has multiple hits in eight of the past 10 games.

CAL LUTHERAN

Kingsmen Go All Out

Kingsmen Coach Mike Dunlap was not surprised that Greensboro lost a day after beating his Cal Lutheran team in the South-West sectional of the NCAA Division III basketball playoffs.

Dunlap figured that the Pride was bound to be fatigued after defeating Cal Lutheran, 104-99, in a semifinal Friday. On Saturday, Greensboro lost to St. Thomas (Minn.), 84-74.

“That was as hard as I’ve seen (our) guys play,” Dunlap said. “I mean, they were absolutely spent at the end of that game. . . . I figured Greensboro had to be tired. I knew they left their legs on the floor against us.”

Shooting statistics seem to back Dunlap’s claim. Greensboro shot 45% from the field against St. Thomas after making 61.9% of its shots--including 25 of 30 in the second half--against Cal Lutheran.

JUNIOR COLLEGES

Just Ask Dad

Not that he needed much help, but George Tarkanian, in his first year as basketball coach at Chaffey College, didn’t have to go far for advice when his team played San Jose City in a quarterfinal game of the state championships eventually won by Long Beach City last week at UC Irvine.

At the opposite end of the bench sat Jerry Tarkanian, the former Nevada Las Vegas coach and George’s father. Jerry coached the South team against the North in an all-star game Saturday before the championship encounter.

“I really enjoyed having him there,” Tarkanian said. “The San Jose City game (in the first round) was the first game he ever sat on the bench.”

Tarkanian, a former Antelope Valley assistant who still teaches political science twice a week at the Lancaster school, guided the Panthers to the Foothill Conference title. Chaffey finished 32-6.

He said the 80-mile commute to Lancaster from his home in Alta Loma, where Chaffey is located, made for some long days. But, apparently, he found time to mold the Panthers into a winning team.

“We started playing better and better and we went much farther than I expected,” Tarkanian said.

*

At least this time Lee Smelser didn’t have to look for his car late at night or pay the piper once he found it.

Smelser, College of the Canyons men’s basketball coach, attended the first-round games of the state championships last Thursday, and was impressed with the victories by the four South participants over their North opponents.

“I was surprised that the North wasn’t a little stronger,” Smelser said. “All their teams went home after the first day. That was a surprise.”

But not like the surprise Smelser had one night last season at the final eight tournament when he left the gym at the University of San Francisco to find his rental car gone.

“I came out at 10:30 and the car had been towed,” Smelser said. “I had to pay over $100 to get it back. I was wondering why there were so many (open) parking spaces on the street. That’s why.”

Luckily, a police officer on duty at the basketball game helped Smelser locate the car.

At Irvine last week, Smelser paid $3 to park next to the school’s Bren Events Center.

“I wasn’t going to make another mistake like that,” he said, laughing.

Around the Campuses . . .

* UCLA teammates Marcus Reed and John Sommers were not elite track and field athletes during their high school days at Canoga Park and Agoura, respectively, but they have developed into top-flight collegians for the Bruins. Reed, who had a high school best of 10.99 seconds in the 100 meters, finished third in the 55-meter dash (6.21 seconds) in the NCAA indoor track championships at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis on Saturday. Sommers had a best of 14 feet 6 inches in the pole vault at Agoura, but he cleared 17-4 1/2 to finish ninth in the NCAA indoor meet, and raised his personal best to 17-8 earlier this season.

* The black-and-blue award goes to Northridge third baseman Tyler Nelson, who through Sunday had been hit by a pitch nine times. Nelson also had drawn a team-high 19 walks, one reason why his on-base percentage of .469 was tops on the team despite a so-so batting average of .261.

* Northridge’s sweep of Hawaii over the weekend wasn’t necessarily great news for the WAC’s national reputation. Hawaii, which entered the series ranked 24th by Collegiate Baseball, was the only member of the 10-team conference appearing in the polls. The Rainbows dropped out this week, leaving the WAC without a ranked team.

* The Master’s College basketball team set school records for most victories (28), best field-goal percentage (51.0) and best free-throw percentage (75.7) in a season. The previous records were 23 victories, set by the 1991-92 squad, a 49.9 shooting percentage by the 1985-86 team, and a free-throw shooting percentage of 72.9 set by the 1977-78 team.

* Emeka Okenwa concluded his career at Master’s with 1,094 points, 638 rebounds and a career shooting percentage of 58.1. His 17.4 scoring average ranks seventh on the school’s career list and his 10.1 rebound average is sixth. His field-goal percentage is second behind Kelly Byrd, who hit 58.7% of his shots from 1983-86.

* With a 32-point performance against Greensboro, Damon Ridley became a member of the 1,000-point club at Cal Lutheran. Ridley, the team’s leading scorer for the past two seasons, totaled 1,001 points during his two years at the school, and ranks 16th on the career scoring list. He averaged 15.7 points as a junior and 20.6 this season.

Staff writers Fernando Dominguez, Steve Elling and John Ortega contributed to this notebook.