Poll Shows Matadors No Respect

Cal State Northridge, ranked 10th in Collegiate Baseball’s final 1996 poll after leading the nation in victories during a 52-18 season, is unranked by the magazine in its 1997 preseason poll.

Pepperdine (33-19) is ranked 37th.

Northridge shortstop Adam Kennedy, who led the nation with 121 hits last season, is a second-team selection on the preseason All-American team and left-handed pitcher Erasmo Ramirez (14-1) is a third-team choice.

Two former Simi Valley High players, Jeff Weaver and Ryan Hankins, are preseason All-Americans.

Weaver, a sophomore right-hander who was 12-5 at Fresno State and who pitched on the U.S. Olympic team, is the only area player on the first team.

Hankins, a junior third baseman who batted .367 last season at UNLV, is a second-team pick.

The third team includes left-handed pitchers Randy Wolf of Pepperdine and El Camino Real High, and Jim Parque of UCLA and Crescenta Valley High.

Rock bottom:Most of the statistics from the Northridge women’s basketball team’s 86-33 loss to Portland on Monday night in the New Mexico State tournament were pretty ugly, but one was unbelievable.

In the first half, the Matadors made one of 30 shots from the field. That’s 3.3% shooting.

“We hit an all-time low in ineptitude,” Coach Michael Abraham said. “We were an absolute example of complete futility. We just couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn.”

Abraham said the loss was so lopsided because, once the game was decided, Northridge didn’t try to keep it close and instead worked on its scheme.

“We stayed in the press the whole game and the man to man the whole game,” Abraham said. “We stayed with our 40-minutes-of-hell style that I’ve staked my reputation on. When we aren’t going to win, we are going to go ahead and use it as a practice.”

Abraham said that Portland is one of the top five teams on the West Coast and probably the best team Northridge will face.

“We’re really prepared for the Big Sky [Conference],” he said. “This team is not as bad as the score indicates.”