Gossett Becomes Cardinal Scout

Steve Gossett has resigned as pitching coach for the Cal State Northridge baseball team to become a scout for the St. Louis Cardinals, Matador Coach Mike Batesole said.

Interestingly, Gossett was hired by Cardinal scouting supervisor Chuck Fick, who is Batesole’s close friend. Gossett, 35, spent one season at Northridge after coaching stints at Midland Lutheran College in Nebraska, UC Riverside and Redlands during the last 13 years.

Gossett will work primarily in Southern California, Batesole said. A replacement is expected to be selected soon.

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Northridge’s 2001 recruiting class is ranked 15th in the nation by Collegiate Baseball.

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Northridge, 23-33 last season, begins practice Monday and opens the season Jan. 25 with the first of four games at home against Washington State.

Northridge, after three seasons as an independent, will compete in the Big West Conference in 2001. The Matadors open conference play March 24 at University of the Pacific.

The Big West, with the departure of Nevada and New Mexico State, will switch from a 30-game schedule to 18 games, with each of the conference’s seven teams playing a three-game series against each opponent. Each team will play three series at home and three on the road.

The Big West baseball lineup for 2001 includes Northridge, Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State, UC Santa Barbara, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Pacific and Cal State Sacramento.

UC Irvine, which will field a team in 2002, and UC Riverside are scheduled to join the baseball alignment in 2002.