He Might Go for the Gold and Green

Bobby Braswell knows where the green is.

As in cash. As in his former boss. As in the Pacific Northwest.

The departure Tuesday of Oregon men’s basketball Coach Jerry Green for Tennessee leaves an opening in Eugene that Braswell would like to fill.

Who wouldn’t?

For one, the yearly salary should be in six figures, a nice little hike over Braswell’s $72,000 deal at Cal State Northridge, America’s foremost trailer park for higher learning.

Then there’s the prestige of heading a Pacific 10 Conference program he worked to improve during four seasons as an assistant before coming to Northridge.

That Braswell might leave Northridge shouldn’t shock anyone. The surprising part is how quickly it could happen.

When Northridge hired Braswell last May, nobody could have honestly expected a lifelong marriage.

When Dave Baldwin left Northridge in December to take over the San Jose State football program, after revamping the Matadors in his two seasons with the team, some figured Braswell would be the next to go.

When Braswell nearly guided the Matadors to the NCAA tournament this season, considerably raising his coaching stock, the likelihood of his migrating increased.

Perhaps Braswell won’t get the Oregon job, but it’s only a matter of time before another major school comes calling.

Northridge, which could hardly justify or is even capable of giving the kind of loot many schools pay their coaches, can only watch them leave.

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The way Marty Slimak sees it, spring break was a bad break.

“We were on a roll,” said Slimak, baseball coach at Cal Lutheran.

Before closing shop for the holiday, the Kingsmen won five in a row and were picking up steam for the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference home stretch.

Cal Lutheran (19-5, 11-1 in conference play) is ranked No. 3 in Division III.

The Kingsmen, who resume play with a nonconference game at Point Loma Nazarene on Friday, have not played since March 23.

Slimak, in his fourth season at Cal Lutheran, hopes the Kingsmen can shake off any rust from the layoff in their six nonconference games before returning to SCIAC play with a five-game series next week against last-place Caltech.

“We’ve been solid,” Slimak said. “We’ve really improved offensively and we’ve got guys who have a lot of juice on their bats.”

Senior catcher Tom McGee is batting .416 with 12 home runs and 28 runs batted in, and first baseman Anthony Olden has eight of Cal Lutheran’s 38 home runs.

“This team is the best power-hitting team we’ve had since I’ve been here,” Slimak said.

“This team is getting close to the 1992 team that led the nation in home runs [78] and doubles [130].”

The pitching also has been sound, particularly senior left-hander Richard Bell (6-1, 2.44 earned-run average) and senior right-hander Erik Kiszczak (6-1, 3.60).

Slimak wants Cal Lutheran to play host to the West Regional in May, as it did last year at Moorpark College, which could enhance the team’s chances for a second consecutive trip to the Division III championship tournament.

The Kingsmen came within two innings of winning the title last season.

Slimak says he’s not consumed by thoughts of a national championship.

“If it’s your year, it’s your year,” Slimak said. “That’s how I look at it. That’s how I sleep at night.”

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Pepperdine sophomore shortstop David Matranga is showing USA Baseball did not make a mistake in inviting him to the national team’s summer training camp that starts June 4 at Viera, Fla.

Matranga is batting .326 with a team-high eight home runs and 33 runs batted in.

He has made only four errors in 164 chances for a .976 fielding percentage.

The 25-man national team starts a tour in mid-June in preparation for the Intercontinental Cup on Aug. 1-10 at Barcelona, Spain.

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For the record: Former Pierce College pitcher Jason Warren is playing at UNLV, not San Francisco, as reported here last week.