COLLEGE DIVISION / MITCH POLIN : Azusa Pacific Has Turned Up Its Game a Notch

The Azusa Pacific baseball team has done well since Tony Barbone arrived as coach in 1986.

In his first six seasons as coach of the Cougars, Barbone’s teams reached the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics District 3 playoffs six times and won three Golden State Athletic Conference titles and two district championships.

So it was hardly unexpected when the Cougars were ranked 15th in the NAIA in a preseason poll.

With eight games remaining in the conference season, Azusa Pacific is in an accustomed position. The Cougars are 22-10 overall and ranked No. 19 in the NAIA and tied for first in the conference with Christ College Irvine at 10-3.

About the only surprise has been how long it has taken the talent-rich Cougars to shift into high gear. Playing a difficult nonconference schedule that included games against NCAA Division I opponents such as UC Santa Barbara and Chapman, struggled through a six-game losing streak and posted a mark of 8-7 after its first 15 games.

But the Cougars have not lost many games since early March.

“I think what has happened is it’s one of my most talented teams, but as most of our teams do, they seem to mold and blend together at the right time,” Barbone said. “We aim for March 1 as a target date for us to be ready for conference play. We lost a little time because of the string of rainouts that we had, but we’re starting to come around.”

Barbone said his only surprise has been the manner in which his team has succeeded.

At the start of the season, he said, he expected to rely on his team’s pitching more than its offense, although the Cougars have hit 65 home runs including nine grand slams. The top hitters have been infielders Jeff Crockett and Pedro Carranza and outfielder Steve Allyn.

“If there’s a surprise with this team, it’s that I didn’t think we’d see those kind of numbers from our hitters,” he said. “If there’s a negative side, it’s that we’re not as consistent with our pitching as I would like us to be.”

That doesn’t mean that Barbone is any less optimistic about the Cougars than he was at the start of the season.

“We’re still a good team,” he said. “I don’t think we’re a great team, and we still have a lot of games to go so a lot can happen.”

However, he said it is not a team that can afford to coast through its conference schedule.

“I don’t think our team can afford to take a pitch off,” Barbone said. “We have to stay in the game at every moment and keep at it all the time.”

Barbone said that with teams such as Christ College, Westmont and Southern California College in the GSAC, the conference is as balanced as ever.

“Just about every game we play can be won by both teams, which is really a compliment to the conference,” he said. “Somebody will probably get hot at the time of the tournament and I’m hoping that’s us.”

Judging by their past, the Cougars appear in good position.

“We have a pretty good run going,” Barbone said. “When you’ve had that kind of success, you just want to keep it going. We just want to have similar success again.”

The Cal Lutheran baseball team had a number of streaks come to an end when it lost to La Verne in a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game last week.

In losing, 6-3, to La Verne in the first of a three-game series, it ended an 18-game winning streak against SCIAC competition dating to last season. The Kingsmen entered the game at 12-0 in conference play.

It also put an end to Cal Lutheran’s 30-game home winning streak. The last loss at home for the Kingsmen was to The Master’s on March 4, 1991.

In addition, the six runs were the most that the Kingsmen have allowed in a game this season. Cal Lutheran also lost a lead for the first time this season, having led, 3-1, after six innings.

But the Kingsmen, who are 29-2 and ranked No. 1 in the NCAA Division III, showed their resilience by coming back to sweep a doubleheader from La Verne by scores of 14-8 and 9-4 the next day.

The Kingsmen lead conference runner-up Redlands (12-3) by two games. The teams meet for a three-game series starting April 24 at Redlands.

College Division Notes

UC Riverside wasted little time in naming John Masi, 43, as a replacement for Richard Perry, who announced last week that he would retire as the school’s athletic director effective July 3. Perry, also the former USC athletic director, said that with the selection of a new chancellor at Riverside, Raymond Orbach, the timing was right to step down. Orbach was selected March 20. . . . Cal State San Bernardino has announced that it will retain Luvina Beckley as its interim women’s basketball coach for next season. Beckley, who had been an assistant coach at the school for one season, became the school’s interim coach after Gary Schwartz was relieved of his duties in January.

The Cal Poly San Luis Obispo baseball team moved to within half a game of CCAA leader UC Riverside by winning two of three games against the Highlanders last week. The Mustangs, ranked No. 3 in the NCAA Division II by Collegiate Baseball magazine, defeated Riverside, 6-1 and 1-0, and lost, 7-6. The teams both have a .667 winning percentage with Riverside at 12-6 in the CCAA and San Luis Obispo at 10-5. . . . The Cal State Los Angeles baseball team climbed back into contention for the CCAA title with a three-game sweep of Cal State Dominguez Hills, which was ranked 10th in the NCAA Division II last week. The Golden Eagles, 16-21 overall and 9-9 in the conference, won, 10-0, 4-2 and 2-1. . . . Defending national champion Cal Poly Pomona lived up to its top ranking in women’s tennis by winning the title at the Xenia Anastasiadou Memorial Invitational Tournament on Sunday in Pomona. The Broncos, 12-0 overall and 6-0 in the CCAA, defeated fifth-ranked UC Davis, 6-3, in the title match.