Bill to Protect Athletes Is Vetoed by Gov. Davis

Gov. Gray Davis on Friday vetoed Senate Bill 338, which directed state colleges to make every reasonable effort to place athletes in other programs and to honor athletic scholarships if sports programs were eliminated.

SB 338, sponsored by state Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley), originally called for universities and community colleges to provide one-year notification before dropping a program. An Assembly committee changed the bill to read “reasonable notification.”

Davis said the bill would have reduced the flexibility of college administrators to make decisions regarding continuation, expansion or elimination of academic and athletic programs. He said state colleges already protect scholarships and help place affected students in other programs.

“It is not necessary to codify these practices,” Davis said.

BASEBALL

* Antonio Perez had three hits, including a triple, and drove in two runs for the Lancaster JetHawks, who defeated defending champion San Bernardino, 4-2, in a California League divisional playoff opener on Friday night at Lancaster.

Freddy May and Scott Maynard, who had two hits, drove in the other runs for Lancaster (90-59), who host Game 2 in the best-of-five series at 7:15 tonight.

Brandon Parker, who had 22 saves during the regular season, pitched an inning of one-hit relief to earn a save.

Jeff Heaverlo, who returned to Lancaster after a stint with triple-A Tacoma, pitched seven innings, giving up five hits and two runs. Heaverlo struck out seven and walked three. Aaron Looper pitched a hitless eighth inning for the JetHawks.

MOTORSPORTS

* Two-time defending champion Bryan Herta of Valencia will have to wait until today to attempt to qualify for the Honda Grand Prix of Monterey CART series race Sunday at Laguna Seca Raceway, .

The fuel pump in Herta’s Reynard-Ford failed at the beginning of the qualifying session and the crew could not get the problem fixed in time to complete a lap.

Herta was 23rd in the morning practice session at 113.323 mph. Helio Castroneves of Brazil, who broke Herta’s track record of 118.666 by clocking 118.969 in qualifying, had the fastest clocking in practice at 116.391.

“We found some things for the practice session and I think the car would definitely have been better for qualifying,” Herta said. “I’m disappointed obviously. We haven’t really run before this weekend and every lap is so valuable.”

BASKETBALL

* Gary Grayson, former coach at Westlake, has been named boys’ coach at Cornerstone Christian in Camarillo.

FOOTBALL

* Casey Clausen, former Alemany High quarterback who is a freshman at Tennessee, resumed throwing this week after being sidelined for two weeks because of a sore shoulder.

Clausen was battling for the starting position until his injury.