Providing Food for Thought

Let ‘em eat . . . raisins?

Parents of a few Cal State Northridge baseball players were somewhat peeved last week when their sons had empty pockets and empty stomachs in Fresno.

The Matadors, on the last trip of the season, weren’t given their food allowance until after returning home. The Northridge coaching staff withheld the money, $17.50 per day, until all school equipment and uniforms were returned.

“It’s been that way on every team I’ve ever been on,” said assistant Mike Batesole, who reached the double-A level in the Dodgers’ minor league system. “Some of that stuff’s valuable.”

Batesole told the team before the trip that the players wouldn’t receive their allowance until after the trip, which a player confirmed.

It was news to many parents, who thought their sons were wasting away by the minute. In fact, Batesole, who handles the per diem distribution, said he personally loaned money to a couple of players who ran short of funds.

On the bus ride home from Fresno, most of the grumbling was probably emanating from the players’ mouths, not their stomachs. Fresno State swept the three-game series, handing the Matadors their fourth consecutive loss to close the year.

JUNIOR COLLEGES

Pirates Get Their Share

Ventura College shared the Western State Conference overall sports title with Cuesta for the 1993-94 school year. Each school scored 90 points, which are awarded based on final WSC standings in each sport.

Ventura received most of its points by winning championships in men’s and women’s basketball, men’s swimming and women’s cross-country.

Moorpark finished fourth (71.5 points), Canyons was sixth (41), Glendale took seventh (37), Valley tied for eighth with Santa Barbara (34), Pierce came in 10th (30) and Oxnard finished 11th (13).

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At 6-feet-4 and 170 pounds, Isaac Turner of Glendale towers over his competitors in the 800-meter run, but Vaquero Coach Tom McMurray would like to see him throw his weight around more often.

McMurray says that Turner is too tentative about maintaining his position in the pack during a race. The Southern California championships last week were a good example. Turner allowed himself to be boxed in with 350 meters left and had to move from fifth to second in the final 200.

Although Turner’s time of 1 minute 51.77 seconds was a personal best, McMurray said that Bob Blanchard’s school record of 1:50.7 (set in 1964) should have fallen.

“Getting boxed in like that cost him the school record,” McMurray said. “He made a big run over the final 300 meters, but by the time he hit the homestretch, he started to run out of gas because of all the energy he expended in working his way up through the pack.”

Around the Campuses . . .

* Mission right fielder Jesus Perez set a school record this season by being hit by a pitch 17 times.

* Pierce second baseman Cesar Martinez set a Western State Conference record with 30 stolen bases.

* Catcher Adam Basua had the only home run by Oxnard in WSC play. By contrast, Glendale led the conference with 30 homers. Randy Vickers of Glendale was the conference champion with eight, followed by teammates Steve Mikesell and Bryan Warner, each with seven.

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