Cal Lutheran Making Noise in Baseball

Pitcher Pat Norville stepped out of Cal Lutheran’s team van and hollered, “I can’t wait for practice tomorrow.”

The Kingsmen had just returned to campus after beating San Diego State, 9-1, in baseball last month, and Norville, characteristically, could barely contain himself. During games, Norville paces the Kingsmen dugout in his role as the team’s unofficial intensity monitor.

“Infectious,” is what Cal Lutheran Coach Rich Hill calls Norville’s attitude. “It’s 100% adrenaline.”

Moreover, Cal Lutheran (13-0, 6-0 in Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play) has “10 guys just like him,” Hill said.

The Kingsmen have added five NCAA Division I transfers to a team that includes four starters from last year. The results? Cal Lutheran has beaten its opponents by almost nine runs a game.

Entering Wednesday’s game against Westmont, eight of nine starters were batting better than .308, and Eric Johnson, a transfer from Cal State Northridge, led the team with a .477 average and had hit seven doubles and four home runs. Darrell McMillin, a junior center fielder, already is threatening the school home run record. He belted his 10th home run Wednesday and is within four of tying the single-season record.

The pitching staff--especially Norville--has surprised Hill.

“Not a lot of people knew about Pat because he was a closer at Saddleback (College),” Hill said.

Norville (3-0) has a 1.48 earned-run average with 21 strikeouts in 24 1/3 innings.

WAIT TILL NEXT YEAR

The good news for Oxnard’s baseball team is that 1993 looks promising. The Condors will welcome 20 players back to the team. Unfortunately, the Condors are paying the price this year.

The Condors, who have only one returning player after the school temporarily dropped baseball last summer, are taking their lumps with an 0-9 record under first-year Coach Chris Stevens.

A former Western State Conference power that won or shared four WSC titles in the 1980s, Oxnard has an earned-run average of 10.61. A week ago, the Condors dropped a 30-6 decision to Pierce on a day when Condor pitchers walked 12 and hit seven batters.

“Pitching is definitely our downfall,” Stevens said. “They (the players) are frustrated and they are discouraged. Fortunately, nobody has quit and the guys are still plugging away.”

The bright spots have been outfielders Steve Susko (.382 average) and Nick Frank (.344) and shortstop J.J. Ramirez (.300).

BUILDING A FOUNDATION

After Oxnard announced plans during the summer to shelve athletics, the school restored five of the programs in time for the 1991-92 school year.

The Oxnard athletic department now has plans for new facilities, including a gymnasium and softball complex.

The 18-month construction project is scheduled for a ground-breaking in May. Oxnard currently fields baseball, men’s and women’s basketball and men’s and women’s soccer.

Softball, volleyball, track and field and cross-country could be brought back in the near future. According to Stevens, there also has been talk about fielding a football program, possibly as early as 1995.

UPS AND DOWNS

Cal State Northridge had a five-game winning streak snapped by Tuesday’s 2-2 tie with UC Santa Barbara that was called after 10 innings because of darkness. However, the Matadors continued their string of impressive pitching performances.

Steven Morales pitched all 10 innings, allowing five hits and five walks with six strikeouts. But after a week off, the Matadors struggled at the plate, managing only six hits.

“We were starting to look a lot better on the hitting end of it, but then we get the week off and we looked like we did at the beginning (of the season),” Coach Bill Kernen said. “But the other part of that is I think both of their guys (Chris Johnson and Steve Lane) threw pretty well. You have to give them credit.”

CRACK THE WHIP

Kernen might have raised some eyebrows by letting Morales pitch 10 innings so early in the season, but Northridge’s coach says he watches pitch counts, not innings.

“He was at 117 pitches going into the 10th, which is way less than he threw” in his previous start, Kernen said. “I knew he was OK for at least one more (inning).”

Still, Kernen is aware that not everyone--including UC Santa Barbara Coach Al Ferrer--agrees with his philosophy of sticking with his starter.

“He’s used something like 14 pitchers this season,” Kernen said. “We’ve used three.”

COMPLETE-GAME TREND

The Northridge trend of pitchers completing what they start apparently has caught on at Pierce.

Northridge led NCAA Division I teams last year with 41 complete games and the Matadors’ three-man starting rotation of Kenny Kendrena, Kevin Kloek and Morales appears to be on its way to repeating the feat.

At Pierce, Coach Bob Lofrano has received seven complete games in 12 games. Mike Eby (3-0) leads the staff with four, and Eric Raba (3-0) has three for the Brahmas (10-1-1).

“It’s kind of like, ‘Here’s the ball and I’ll see you nine innings later,’ ” said Lofrano, who sets a 120-pitch limit. “If they can get to (the ninth inning) and be within that limit, we’ll let them finish it.”

HOT START FOR HAIRELL

Canyons has struggled at the plate, but left fielder Jeff Hairell has made it a struggle for opposing pitchers.

Hairell, the dean of the Canyons team at 24, is batting .483 (14 for 29), including a four-hit performance in a 13-2 win over Glendale last week.

“He’s a guy that didn’t have a chance to play much last year who took advantage of an opportunity,” Canyons Coach Len Mohney said of the 6-foot-2, 185-pound Hairell. “He’s been our most consistent hitter.”

A 1985 graduate of Canyon High, Hairell all but gave up baseball and learned the plumbing trade after high school. He enrolled at Canyons to study business and played sparingly with the Cougars last season.

“I came back to school for business,” said Hairell, who plans to start his own plumbing business in two years.

“But everyone always told me I could play. I’m just looking to play some good baseball.”

Ron Twersky and staff writers Mike Hiserman and Wendy Witherspoon contributed to this notebook.