COLLEGE NOTEBOOK : CSUN Strategy--Hit It, Pitch It

Don’t expect fancy coaching strategy to decide this weekend’s three-game baseball series between Cal State Northridge and Cal State Fullerton. The ringleaders know each other too well.

Northridge Coach Bill Kernen was an assistant to Fullerton’s Augie Garrido for six seasons--five at Fullerton, one at Illinois--before taking over CSUN’s program three years ago. In addition, Kernen’s current assistant, Jody Robinson, was on Garrido’s staff at Illinois and Fullerton.

Additionally, Robinson and Fullerton assistant George Horton coached together at Cerritos College for three seasons, winning two state junior college championships.

And, finally, Fullerton assistant Rick Vanderhook was on Kernen’s staff at Northridge last season.

Kernen downplayed the familiarity factor, noting that neither team is known for getting particularly tricky anyway. “We’re going to do the best we can and if we hit the ball and pitch well enough, we’ll win,” he said.

“I haven’t really even thought about Augie, although it probably will be kind of funny being on opposite sides of the field.”

Northridge (6-4) has lost two in a row, and Fullerton (3-6) has dropped its past three games.

Scott Sharts (2-0), coming off a complete-game win over USC, will go for Northridge in today’s 2 p.m. opener at Amerige Park in Fullerton. He will be opposed by James Popoff (1-1).

Back to basics: In Northridge’s last baseball game, a 7-2 loss to USC, Kernen went with an unorthodox batting order that included Mike Sims batting cleanup and Denny Vigo, the usual No. 4-place hitter, batting eighth.

Against Fullerton today, Northridge will go back to its usual lineup. Vigo, who is batting .171, will be in the cleanup spot. Sims, who is second on the team with a .371 average, will probably be moved back to the No. 6 slot.

Interchangeable parts: Northridge’s No. 3-ranked men’s volleyball team may be without middle blocker Coley Kyman tonight when it plays host to Brigham Young in a Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. match at 7:30.

Kyman sustained a pulled back muscle hitting a volleyball on the sand courts at CSUN on Saturday morning and he missed the Matadors’ match against UC Irvine later in the day. “He thinks he’s going to play (against BYU), but we’re planning on not having him,” Coach John Price said.

Ken Lynch moved in from outside hitter to replace Kyman against Irvine, with Mark Root moving into Lynch’s vacated spot and Bill Ortgiesen stepping into Root’s role. “We were pretty happy with (Lynch) in the middle, especially since he had never played there before,” Price said.

Northridge (6-2) defeated Irvine in four games.

Casey at the bat: Casey Burrill was expected to be USC’s catcher this season, but because of a shoulder injury, he has been relegated to duty as the Trojans’ designated-hitter. So far, the former Hart High standout appears to have made the adjustment quite well.

Burrill was leading USC (9-3-1) with a .422 batting average and was third with eight runs batted in.

“He epitomizes the team player,” teammate Mike Mancuso said of Burrill. “He could have surgery now and miss the year, but he’s waiting until after the season because he’s valuable to the team. That, to me, shows a lot of heart.”

Mancuso, a freshman from Chatsworth High, appears to have won the job as catcher in Burrill’s absence.

Last week, after the Trojans defeated Northridge, 7-2, Mancuso spotted a reporter’s USC media guide and said, “I’m not in that, I’m kind of bummed. . . . But nobody expected me to be here. Heck, I didn’t expect to be here.”

Indeed, Mancuso’s name is listed in the Trojan guide only once--as a member of the junior varsity. Mancuso is considered strong defensively and he has four hits in 18 at-bats.

Crowd count: The average home attendance at Northridge men’s basketball games is a rather embarrassing 738, but the crowd of 1,197 for last Saturday’s game against Boise State was larger than four crowds--Northeastern Illinois, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Northern Arizona and Eastern Washington--Northridge has played before on the road.

Statistically speaking: Darcy Arreola believes her best race is the 1,500 meters. Don Strametz, her coach at Northridge, believes Arreola’s best event will eventually be the 3,000 meters. And the statistics? They say Arreola’s best race last season was the 800.

According to the Track & Field News’ 1990 national rankings released last week, Arreola was 15th on the annual U. S. performer list in the 800 with a personal best of 2 minutes 4.05 seconds.

She ranked 18th in the 1,500 (4:15.00) and 20th in the 3,000 (personal best of 9:12.77).

Last year marked the first time in Arreola’s career that she was among the top 20 nationally in all three events.

Genuine draft: Barry Voorhees, an All-Western Football Conference offensive guard for Northridge in 1989, was selected by Barcelona, Spain, in the sixth round of the World League of American Football draft.

Voorhees (6-5, 300) was the 55th lineman selected. Barcelona opens the season at home on March 24 against the New York-New Jersey Knights in a game scheduled to be telecast by ABC.

Staff writers Mike Hiserman, Theresa Munoz, John Ortega and Steve Elling contributed to this notebook.