Batesole Is Man for CSUN Job : Baseball: Kernen prepared his assistant by giving him plenty of responsibility in last two seasons.

Mike Batesole didn’t want his first job as a college head coach to come at the expense of a friend, which is why he needed to hear from Bill Kernen before taking over the Cal State Northridge baseball program.

“At first I was upset because of my loyalties to Bill,” said Batesole, who Friday was named interim coach after Kernen resigned. “I couldn’t have done this without Bill’s blessing, but he has pushed for this and that has helped me a lot.”

Batesole, Kernen’s top assistant for the past two seasons, will coach the Matadors in 1996. The search for a full-time replacement will begin in the spring.

For Batesole, 31, it is not only his first job as a Division I college head coach, but first job as a head coach at any level. He said he feels prepared because Kernen gave him plenty of responsibility running the program on a day-to-day basis the past two years.

“The daily business stuff, that has been my job description,” Batesole said.

Players said Batesole was a key figure in practices and games, with Kernen serving as more of a coordinator and motivator. Batesole also recruited many of the Northridge players, including the 18 newcomers on the 30-man roster.

“On the field and running practices and game situations, Coach Batesole was pretty much the guy anyway,” said Robert Fick, a junior catcher. “Things are not going to be that different. He wasn’t like an assistant coach. He was like a head coach and Kernen was the motivator.”

Batesole said he plans to continue the program in much the same way as Kernen ran it, with one exception.

“The major change that will be made is we are going to get more Valley kids,” he said. “I don’t want anyone in the Valley to escape the Valley.”

Before joining the Northridge staff in 1993, Batesole was an assistant coach at Cypress College for one season. He was an assistant at Orange Coast from 1985-87 and in 1991.

Batesole, a third baseman, played in the Dodger farm system from 1985 to 1988, reaching double-A San Antonio in 1988.

Batesole graduated from Garden Grove High in 1982 and played third base for three years at Oral Roberts University. He had a career average of .285 with 31 home runs and 148 runs batted in at Oral Roberts.