Cal Lutheran Makes Regional

Cal Lutheran (24-12) is seeded No. 4 and will face top-seeded Chapman (29-11) in the first round of the NCAA Division III baseball West Regional on Thursday at McMurry University in Abilene, Texas.

The four-team, double-elimination tournament runs through Saturday. It includes host McMurry (31-13), seeded No. 2, and No. 3-seeded Southwestern (34-10).

Loyola Marymount’s 5-3 victory over Portland on Monday gave the Lions the West Coast Conference baseball championship, one-half game ahead of Pepperdine.

The Lions (33-21-1, 21-8) have several players from the region, including center fielder Matt Riordan (Westlake High) and pitchers Mike Schultz (Cleveland), Brian Felton (Crespi), Chris Gray (Chaminade) and Mark Madsen (Quartz Hill).

SOCCER

Your Moose, my dear: Tim Ward, recently promoted from assistant of the Pepperdine women’s soccer team to head coach, is no stranger to the program, although his hobbies include a pastime with a strange name.

A Pepperdine press release announcing Ward’s hiring contained the following nugget: “An accomplished musician, Ward is a talented singer and acoustic guitarist. [He is] a member of the band ‘Your Moose,’ [which] performs original contemporary folk rock and released its first compact disc last year.”

More mundane facts about Ward, 26, include his being named Frontier League player of the year in 1988. He was a four-time letter winner at Cal Lutheran.