Schultz Heats Up for 1999 in Alaska

Great--and not so great--expectations. . . .

Expect Mike Schultz of Loyola Marymount to be ready for next baseball season.

Schultz, West Coast Conference pitcher of the year as a freshman last season, is staying sharp by playing for the Anchorage Bucs in the Alaska summer league.

The 6-foot-7 right-hander, a former All-City selection at Cleveland High, is 1-0 with 16 strikeouts in 11 1/3 innings for the Bucs.

He said the competition is fine, but getting used to Alaskan summers takes some doing.

“It’s dark for about five hours,” Schultz said. “It’s hard to adjust at first. And it’s been cold, but it’s starting to get nice.”

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Expect Schultz’s family in Reseda to keep trying to get broadcasts of Anchorage games over the Internet.

They have failed several times to make the connection, including Tuesday night, when Schultz started and pitched 2 1/3 innings before leaving the game because of a sore knee.

“They almost got it [Tuesday],” Schultz said.

Schultz didn’t get a decision in Anchorage’s 8-7 loss to the Kenai Oilers.

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Don’t expect nepotism to affect the Cal State Northridge men’s basketball team as it has other programs.

In recent days, Georgetown Coach John Thompson hired his youngest son as an assistant and Indiana’s volatile Bobby Knight added his son to the Hoosier staff.

There’s no truth to the rumor that Northridge’s Bobby Braswell interviewed his 12-year-old son, Jeffrey, to help him coach.

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Expect to see Scott Collins at tight end for Valley College next season.

Collins, 6-5 and 230 pounds, last year was the backup quarterback for the Monarchs after playing receiver at Hart High.

“We agreed that if by summertime there were questions whether he would start at quarterback, he would move to tight end,” Coach Gary Barlow said. “He looks real good at tight end.”

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Expect Northridge baseball Coach Mike Batesole to change out of a Matador uniform one of these days.

Batesole, Collegiate Baseball magazine’s co-coach of the year with USC’s Mike Gillespie, is actively seeking another Division I job.

But Batesole won’t leave the cupboard bare when someone lures him away from Northridge.

He has recruited 15 players, including several outstanding freshmen from the Valley.

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Don’t expect Jorge Brescia, men’s soccer coach at Oxnard College, to pull for anyone but Argentina in the World Cup.

Brescia was born in that South American country, which has one of the richest soccer traditions. Argentina won the Cup in 1978 and 1986.

But Brescia considers the Netherlands the favorite.

“They play a very modern type of soccer, very coordinated,” Brescia said. “Every one of their players attacks and everyone defends. They are like a machine.

“To be honest, I don’t even watch Argentina play because I get too nervous. Argentina is not playing all 90 minutes with the same intensity.”

Brescia said during Argentina’s 5-0 victory over Jamaica on Sunday, he tended the Oxnard soccer complex that was built as a training site for teams in the 1994 Cup.

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Expect Marwan Ass’ad, men’s soccer coach at Northridge, to pull for the underdog at the World Cup.

Ass’ad fought hard to save his team when Northridge dropped soccer and three other men’s sports in June, 1997. The programs later were reinstated.

“Nigeria is my sentimental favorite,” Ass’ad said. “I’m a fan of [Nigeria Coach] Bora [Milutinovic]. I think he’s the perfect coach.”

But, who’ll win the Cup, Marwan?

“It’s going to come down to luck,” he said. “Whose day it is.”