SPORTSCOPE : Pepperdine Loses Fine Batters but Looks Like Power

The Pepperdine baseball team, ranked 19th nationally by Baseball America and 20th by Collegiate Baseball, will open the season by playing host to Westmont at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday at Eddy D. Field Stadium.

Second-year Wave Coach Andy Lopez has 13 lettermen, including West Coast Conference Pitcher of the Year Britt Craven. Craven had a 10-3 record and a 2.89 earned-run average last year and led Pepperdine in victories, with 17 starts, seven complete games, 134 innings and 87 strikeouts.

But Lopez has lost four position players who each hit above .340 and led the Waves to a share of their sixth consecutive WCC championship. The bats of Rick Hirtensteiner, Matt Howard, Scott Shockey and Richard Barnwell helped the Waves to a 41-19-1 overall record and a berth in the NCAA West II Regional, where they lost to Michigan and Wichita State. Wichita won the College World Series.

“Let’s be honest,” Lopez said. “Replacing people like Barnwell, Howard, Hirtensteiner and Shockey will not be an easy task. . . . We will miss them . . . but I am confident that our new players can step in immediately and do the job.”

Freshmen include first baseman Dan Melendez, outfielder Chris Sheff and right-handed pitcher Derek Wallace, who all played for the U.S. team that won the Junior World Championship last summer in Canada.

Lopez also is confident in his pitching staff. Pitchers besides Craven include Sean Casey (7-2, 3.14 ERA), Randy Hacker (3-1, 2.73, four saves), Kipp Landis (3-0 3.35, two saves) and John Kuzmic (7-4, 5.29). Craig Stiveson, who has not pitched for 18 months because of arm problems, is returning to action. Stiveson was the conference Rookie of the Year in 1987.

All-American outfielder Jalal Leach, who hit .327 last year, is the top returning hitter. Other regulars back are third baseman Jim Doyle, shortstop Chris Martin and catcher Mike Truschke.

The UCLA men’s volleyball team, ranked second nationally before the season, and No. 6 Pepperdine will be among 24 teams in the UC Santa Barbara Tournament on Friday and Saturday.

Last week the Bruins defeated Hawaii in four games and Cal State Northridge in four but lost to the Israeli national team in four. UCLA also lost an earlier match to the Israelis, but the losses do not count against its record, which was 2-0 overall as the week began.

Against Hawaii, UCLA was led by seniors Mike Garcia and Trevor Schirman and freshman Rich Bland. Bland had 19 kills, Garcia 18 kills and Schirman 16 kills and five blocks.

In the Northridge match, Garcia had 24 kills and hit .576, and Schirman had 10 kills and eight blocks. Against the Israelis, Schirman had 21 kills and six blocks.

Pepperdine began the season last week with victories over Western Intercollegiate Volleyball opponents, defeating UC Irvine in four games and Brigham Young in three.

Against UC Irvine, junior Geoff Hart had 19 kills and freshman Tom Sorenson added 18 kills and eight blocks. In the BYU match, junior Brian Merrick had 20 kills and five blocks, Sorenson 19 kills and 10 blocks and Hart 17 kills.

The Waves will play host to Cal State Northridge at 8 p.m. Wednesday at Firestone Fieldhouse.

The Santa Monica College men’s basketball team (21-4 overall and 5-1 in the Western State Conference) will play host to Cuesta at 7 p.m. Saturday at Corsair Gymnasium.

The Corsairs, winners of 10 of their last 11 games and ranked eighth in the state by the JC Athletic Bureau, last week defeated Canyons, 104-77, and edged Oxnard, 64-63.

Mark Moton made the deciding basket against Oxnard and finished with a team-high 17 points. SMC’s Chico Langston had 14 points, and teammate Cornelius Banks had 12 points and a team-high 10 rebounds.

Donald Smith led the Corsairs with 19 points against Canyons, and other Corsairs who scored in double figures were Langston with 17, Banks with 12, Moton with 12 and Marcus Williams with 10.

The Santa Monica College women’s basketball team (17-5 overall, 3-2 in the Western State Conference) will entertain Cuesta College at 5 p.m. Saturday at Corsair Gymnasium. SMC will play Wednesday at Ventura.

The Corsairs lost last week to Canyons, 88-71, and defeated Oxnard, 59-46. Against Canyons, Crystal Nettles had 22 points on seven-of-10 shooting, and Illana Mazingo had 21 points and nine rebounds. Against Oxnard, Jackie Nikzad scored 18 points--including five three-point shots--and had 11 rebounds, Nettles scored 12 points, and Mazingo had a career-high 19 rebounds and eight points.

The UCLA women’s basketball team (9-6 overall, 4-1 in the Pacific 10 Conference) will play tonight at Oregon State (4-14, 0-5) and Saturday at Oregon (11-5, 3-2).

Last week the Bruins lost to Stanford, 98-80, but edged California, 70-68. Sophomore guard Rehema Stevens scored 28 points against Stanford and 25 against Cal and has scored at least 25 in six games and has been in double figures in all 15.

Senior center Sheri Bouldin dislocated her left shoulder in the Cal game and will be sidelined for at least six weeks.

The Pepperdine women’s basketball team (11-7 overall, 2-2 in the West Coast Conference) will play host to Gonzaga (5-11, 1-3) at 7:30 p.m. Friday and to Portland (6-9, 2-2) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Firestone Fieldhouse.

Last week the Waves lost on the road to Portland, 89-75, and to Gonzaga, 76-66. Sophomore forward Shannon Frowiss scored a season-high 26 points against Portland. Senior guard Dionne Burgess, out with a sprained ankle against Portland, returned to score a team-high 17 points against Gonzaga.

The UCLA women’s tennis team, ranked second nationally, will play host to Kansas at 1:30 p.m. today and to UC Irvine at 1:30 p.m. Friday at the Sunset Canyon courts.

Last week the Bruins opened the season with a 7-2 victory over Utah.

The No. 5 Pepperdine women’s tennis team (2-0 as the week began) will have several players in the adidas tournament, which ends Sunday at Palm Springs.

The Waves began the season by defeating Fresno State, 5-1, and Utah, 7-2. Sophomore All-American Noelle Porter missed both matches with a sore shoulder.

The No. 3 UCLA men’s tennis team (2-0) will play host to UC Santa Barbara at 1:30 p.m. Friday and to the University of San Diego at noon Saturday at the Los Angeles Tennis Center on campus.

The Bruins opened the season by routing Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, 9-0, and defeating Fresno State, 7-2. The victories gave Coach Glenn Bassett a career record of 495-76-2 and put him two matches ahead of Furman Coach Paul Scarpa for most wins among active NCAA Division I coaches.

The No. 16 Pepperdine men’s tennis team (1-1) has several players in the adidas tournament at Palm Springs this weekend and will play host to Cal State Hayward at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Last week the Waves began the season by losing to UC Santa Barbara, 5-4, but shut out Fresno State, 9-0. Senior Kevin O’Neill and freshmen Howard Joffe and Alejo Mancisidor won their singles matches both days.

The UCLA men’s swim team (5-1 in dual meets as the week began) will compete tonight at Southern Methodist in Dallas.

Last week the Bruins defeated Cal State Long Beach, 83-50, and got by Michigan, 58-55.

Against Long Beach, the Bruins won both relays and senior All-American Mark Dean won the 500-meter freestyle.

In the Michigan meet, sophomore All-American Andrea Cecchi’s second-place finish in the 200 breast stroke between Michigan’s world-record holder Mike Barrowman, who took first, and third-place Eric Wunderlich of the Wolverines helped the Bruins to pull within 55-51 of Michigan. Wunderlich had swum a 2:00.91, best time in the nation this year, in the event against USC the day before.

In the 400 freestyle relay, the last event of the day against Michigan, the Bruins won by seven seconds, earning seven points to none for the Wolverines.

In the Michigan meet, UCLA freshman Geoff Cronin set a UCLA men’s gymnasium pool record in the 100 backstroke with a split of 50.74 in the 400 medley relay.

The No. 9 UCLA women’s swim team (5-1) last week defeated California, 71-69, but lost to Stanford, 91-49.

UCLA junior Sheri Smith qualified for the NCAA meet with a 9:57.64 in the 1,000-meter freestyle, and Bruin freshman Christy Richardson qualified with a 1:04.13 in the 100 breast stroke against Stanford and a 2:19.02 in the 200 breast stroke against Cal.

The Pepperdine women’s swim team (2-5) will compete against Claremont-Mudd and USC at 3 p.m. Friday at USC and play host to Cal State San Bernardino and the University of San Diego at noon Saturday at Raleigh Runnels Pool.

In a triangular meet at home last week, the Waves defeated Loyola Marymount, 193-48, and Pomona Pitzer, 181-116. Junior Kristin Sutter led Pepperdine, winning the 100-yard backstroke in 1:05.36 and the 100 butterfly in 1:02.97 and taking second in the 200 back in 2:19.78.

The UCLA women’s gymnastics team (2-1) will play host to California (0-1) at 7 p.m. Friday at John Wooden Center.

Last week the Bruins lost to Oregon State, 186.55 to 186.50. UCLA senior Jill Andrews took a first in the vault, tied for first on the beam and was second in the all-around.