He Assumed He’d Learned to Talk Trash

In the fifth inning of Sunday’s game at Hawaii, it was raining in the infield but not in the outfield, according to Cal State Northridge outfielder Greg Shepard. Locals prefer to call it the Manoa Mist.

But that wasn’t the only part of the trip that had Shepard confused. He spotted the word “mahalo” written on garbage cans at the beaches in Oahu. It’s also a common expression he heard frequently but was afraid to repeat. He thought it meant “trash.” The correct translation? “Thank you.”

CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE

BASEBALL

Third baseman Andy Small has a 10-game Western Athletic Conference hitting streak and a .333 average with 31 runs batted in and a team-high eight home runs. . . . Keyaan Cook is the only other CSUN player batting better than .300. He has hits in six consecutive games and a .310 average with 17 RBIs. . . .

Matador trivia question: What is the single season record for home runs and who holds it? . . . . Shepard continues to lead the Matadors in hitting with a .360 average and a team-high 36 RBIs. He hit his fifth home run Tuesday against USC. . . .

Center fielder Joey Arnold has slumped to .237 and was replaced the past three games by Jonathan Campbell, although Kernen said he will get Arnold back into the lineup soon. Campbell is hitting .240. . . . First baseman Jason Shanahan has only one hit in his last four games and is batting .243. . . . Left fielder David Prosenko also has one hit in four games and his average has dropped to .250. . . .

In an effort to keep the focus on baseball amid the resort atmosphere of Waikiki, Kernen imposed a 9 p.m. curfew Saturday and had his players up for a 6 a.m. run. The early-to-bed, early-to-rise tactic didn’t work. The Matadors hit into three double plays in a 3-1 loss to Hawaii on Sunday. . . .

Matador trivia answer: Scott Sharts with 29 homers in 1990.

TRACK & FIELD

When Derek Scurry leaped 26 feet 3/4 inches to win the long jump in the Sun Angel Track Classic at Arizona State on Saturday, he became the school outdoor record-holder in the event and exceeded the provisional qualifying standard (25-3 1/4) for the NCAA championships in June. Provisional qualifiers will be invited to the NCAA championships if the number of automatic qualifiers fall below the desired number. . . .

A personal best it wasn’t, but when Nate Wright timed 52.03 seconds to place fifth in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles at the Sun Angel meet, it was the best effort of his Northridge career.

Wright set his personal best of 51.92 as a Merritt College sophomore in 1991. . . .

Garrett Noel has won three of four meets in the javelin this season and is undefeated against collegiate competition. The school record-holder in the event (244-9), Noel lost only in the Florida Relays in Gainesville on March 27 when he threw 236-3 to finish behind Tom Pukstys (256-5) of the Mizuno Track Club.

Pukstys was a member of the U.S. team that competed in the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo. . . .

Kim Young, Janine Stewart, Tamika Bradfield and Charlotte Vines set a school record of 1 minute 39.17 seconds to finish fourth in the women’s 4 x 200-meter relay in the Sun Angel meet. The previous mark of 1:39.21 was set by Joy Polk, Cela McPherson-Taylor, Erin Morris and Vines in 1991. . . .

JUNIOR COLLEGES

BASEBALL

With a weeklong break in Western State Conference play, Canyons will have to wait until Tuesday to resume its drive for the conference title. The Cougars (17-2) lead Valley (12-6-1) by 4 1/2 games, Cuesta (12-8) by 5 1/2 and Pierce (11-8) by six. All the WSC teams have 11 games left except Cuesta, which has 10. Valley travels to Canyons on Tuesday. . . .

Oxnard and Santa Monica have been mathematically eliminated from the title race. Both are 4-15 and 13 games behind. Moorpark and Ventura (both 8-11 and nine games out) could follow suit soon. The top three teams automatically qualify for the playoffs. . . .

Canyons no longer leads the conference in either pitching or batting, but the Cougars are on top in the most crucial category--runs scored. The Cougars have scored 176 runs for a 9.3 average. Their margin of victory is 3.5 runs. Pierce leads in batting with a .333 average, followed by Canyons (.329) and Valley (.303). Cuesta leads in pitching with a 3.44 earned-run average, followed by Canyons (3.61), Bakersfield (4.22) and Pierce (4.80). . . .

Ventura right-hander Marco Grajales leads conference pitchers in appearances with 15 and saves with five. . . . John Dickinson, Moorpark’s 6-foot-6 sophomore right-hander from Camarillo, has walked two in 28 2/3 innings. Canyons bullpen ace Keith Halcovich (2-0, four saves, 3.00 ERA) has allowed two walks in 15 innings.

TRACK & FIELD

A friendly rivalry is brewing between Mark Aucutt of Ventura and Isaiah Mustafa of Moorpark. The pair finished third and fifth, respectively, in the decathlon in last week’s Southern California junior college championships.

Aucutt totaled a personal best of 6,107 points in the 10-event discipline at Long Beach City College and Mustafa scored a personal best of 5,882 points. The top six finishers qualified for the state championships at Shasta (Redding) College on May 21-22.

As Santa Clara High seniors, Mustafa and Aucutt finished fourth and fifth in the decathlon in last year’s Golden West Invitational.

“Mark was just real steady throughout the meet,” Ventura Coach Tuck Mason said. “He didn’t have any spectacular events, but he didn’t have any real bad ones either.”

The same thing could not be said for Mustafa, who was in second place after the first day of competition, but struggled in the discus (100-2) and javelin (102-9) on the second day.

“The javelin really hurt him,” Mason said of Mustafa. “He just had a rough time in that event.” . . .