Batesole Seeks Student Aid at Northridge

Are you enrolled at Cal State Northridge with college baseball eligibility remaining?

If so, Coach Mike Batesole might need you.

Batesole is holding a tryout Saturday at 10 a.m. at Matador Field, hoping to find untapped talent, especially good arms.

“What I’d like to get out of this is more pitching,” Batesole said. “The numbers are pretty low. I think we’ve got about four healthy guys.”

Since Northridge reinstated baseball for one year after dropping the program in June, Batesole has been scrambling to fill the roster for next season.

Most of the Matador players who would have returned left when the school first announced it was cutting the program.

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Cal Lutheran has gone to the brief approach.

No more three-hour practices. Instead, they have been broken into short sessions of work on basic skills and drills. Often, practice does not last two hours.

Coach Scott Squires said he made the change to encourage more effort and better concentration after an 0-2 start and a 3-6 record last year.

“We’d been doing the same things for 11 games now, and it hadn’t netted us much, so we thought, ‘Why not make a change?’ ” Squires said.

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Squires hasn’t decided on a starting quarterback for the game Saturday against University of San Diego at home.

Derek Brown is trying to take the job from Zack Hernandez but Squires said a decision probably won’t be made until Friday.

Hernandez started the first two games but opened the door for Brown by losing three fumbles and throwing two interceptions against Pacific Lutheran.

Hernandez has completed 25 of 42 passes for 198 yards and two touchdowns.

He leads the Kingsmen with 117 yards rushing and a touchdown in 23 carries.

Brown, the better passer, has come off the bench during the third quarter in both games and played well.

He has completed 19 of 39 passes for 350 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

“I’m trying to make a decision, but I’m also kind of asking them to make the decision for me and they haven’t really done that,” Squires said.

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Oskar Kantoft, who is from the prep school in Sweden that produced Kingsmen running back Fredrik Nanhed, had a hat trick against Illinois Benedictine and another goal against Colorado College to spark Cal Lutheran (3-2) to soccer victories last week.

Kantoft has five goals and two assists after registering seven goals and six assists last season.

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The Master’s College, perennially an NAIA Western Region men’s soccer power, has struggled to a 4-5 record.

But the Mustangs were feeling frisky Tuesday after knocking off Westmont, the No. 3 team in the latest NAIA Division I poll, in a nonconference match at The Master’s.

Paul Dojo’s goal six minutes into overtime produced a 3-2 victory and the Mustangs’ first triumph over the Warriors (5-2-1) since 1992. Westmont had posted seven consecutive shutouts against the Mustangs.

“I’m in shock,” Master’s Coach Jim Rickard said. “Everybody else went running around celebrating and I stood there with my mouth at my ankles.”

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Glen Hefferman, who last week said he was considering resigning as men’s basketball coach at Ventura College because of lack of support on campus, said matters have improved this week.

Hefferman, 31, hired Aug. 14 after serving one year at Columbia College in Sonora, said he met with administrators Monday and emerged upbeat.

“Things are real positive,” Hefferman said. “They were very supportive and said they are behind me 100%. People have been coming up to me on campus and saying, ‘We’re behind you.’ ”

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A lot can change before Nov. 22, when the state junior college cross-country championships will be held at Woodward Park in Fresno, but the Glendale and Moorpark men’s teams have staked early claims as co-favorites.

Moorpark, defending state champion, opened the season with a runaway victory over El Camino and Pasadena City--third and second in last year’s state championships--in the Ventura Invitational on Sept. 12.

Glendale, the 1995 state champion, dominated the nonscoring San Diego Mesa Invitational the same day and beat Moorpark, 30-32, last Friday in the first Western State Conference meet of the season at Shoreline Park in Santa Barbara.

“It was a real close race,” Glendale Coach Eddie Lopez said. “I think it’s going to be tight between us all season.”

Glendale and Moorpark are expected to meet five more times, including Saturday at the Golden Coast Invitational at Irvine Park.

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Staff writers Fernando Dominguez, Vince Kowalick, John Ortega, Tris Wykes and correspondent Lauren Peterson contributed to this column.