April 2010 Archives

The SCIAC has announced the 2009-10 All-SCIAC honors in men's tennis. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, coached by Paul Settles, repeated as team champion. The Stags had  three players named to the first team and one selected to second.

The complete list of honors are as follows: 

Player of the Year: Andrew Giuffrida, California Lutheran University

Team Sportsmanship Award: University of La Verne

FIRST TEAM

Nick Ballou, California Lutheran University
Robbie Erani, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps
Mikey Lim, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps
Eric MacColl, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps
Tommy Meyer, Pomona-Pitzer Colleges
Cameron Spearman, University of Redlands

SECOND TEAM

Frankie Allinson, Pomona-Pitzer Colleges
Russell Brockett, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps
Jeff Hammond, University of Redlands
Ryan Lassila, California Lutheran University
Anish Nanda, University of Redlands
Uday Singh, Pomona-Pitzer Colleges
Kevin Wong, University of Redlands
Ray Worley, California Lutheran University

The Cal State San Bernardino baseball team finished its CCAA schedule with a 13-8 win over Cal State East Bay today at Fiscalini Field. That makes the Coyotes 28-14 overall and 27-13 in CCAA play.

The Coyotes took three of four in the series to move into second place ahead of Cal State Dominguez Hills (34-15, 24-12) which has a four-game set left against Cal State Stanislaus next weekend. If the teams finished tied for second Dominguez Hills has the head-to-head tiebreaker and would be the No. 2 seed for the CCAA Tournament coming up.

The Coyotes are ranked No. 3 in the West Region so they look like a lock for the regional tournament regardless of how they do in the conference tournament.

It's a fine showing for Coach Don Parnell's squad. In fact, Parnell would be a good choice for CCAA Coach of the Year. Unfortunately those type of honors seem to go to the winning team more often than not.

UC San Diego won the regular season title and has spent much of the season ranked No. 1 in the country. The Coyotes did split four games with the Tritons which should also be a factor in Parnell's favor.

Also consider that the Coyotes were sixth a year ago and were picked to finish eighth in the preseason coaches poll this season. I would say that's a pretty good coaching job.

The Coyotes seem to be on a magical run, getting huge hits when they need them. a week ago they got a walkoff home run by Erik Ornelas to beat San Francisco State. On Thursday Leland Cisco came off the bench and did the same thing to win the first game against East Bay.

The Coyotes wrap up the regular season with a nonconference series next weekend against Grand Canyon and have a chance for 30 wins for the first time since 2004.

One other note, if the Coyotes make the regional, which they should, that would mean all four Cal State San Bernardino men's sports made the postseason.

The Chaffey College baseball team is going to win the Foothill Conference. One more win in the last five games will do it after the Panthers survived local rival San Bernardino Valley 13-12 on Thursday.

But the Chaffey bullpen has been a little shakey. A week ago the Panthers were up on Cerro Coso 8-2, only to give up six in the ninth. They got one in their half of the inning to win 9-8.

That same scenario played out again today at SBVC. Chaffey led 13-7 but SBVC got six in the ninth, four of those on a grand slam by Josh Salmon, who was cut by Chaffey in the fall, How is that for drama?

SBVC had bases loaded when the Panthers finally got the last two outs.

One big blown lead against a mediocre foe in the ninth can happen, but twice in a week has to be reason for concern. If it's a problem now it could certainly be a problem when the Panthers are facing tougher competition in the playoffs.

The Chaffey baseball team defeated Cerro Coso 9-8 to improve to 18-10 overall and 15-1 in Foothill Conference play. The conference title should only be a formality as the Panthers are up by four games with eight game to go.

This game was closer than it should have been. The Panthers went up 8-2 and were in cruise control. Then the Coyotes scored six runs in the top of the ninth. Uh-oh! But the Panthers managed a run in the bottom of the inning with Matthew Krause hitting one in the gap with two outs to score a pinch runner from second.

The Panthers have been in front for so long and not really been pushed so maybe they needed a bit of kick in the butt.

The Panthers don't have as much power as teams in the past. They have a lot more small but scrappy players as opposed to big sluggers. The most impressive player on the field, at least today, was third baseman Matthew Anderson who made a handful of really nice defensive plays.

Cal State San Bernardino's Gene Webster, Jr. was named California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Men's Golfer of the Week for the week of April 12-18, announced Wednesday. It marks the second time this season he has been honored.

Webster, a senior from San Bernardino, turned in a record-setting performance while claiming individual medalist honors at the 17-team Hanny Stanislaus Invitational earlier this week at the Turlock Golf & Country Club.

As the only player in the field to shoot three sub-70 rounds, the Arroyo Valley high School product carded scores of 68-67-63 for a 198 total and a 12-shot victory. His final-round 63, an 18-hole tournament record, helped the Coyotes to a third-round score of 280 and tie host Cal State Stanislaus for the team title.

Cal State San Bernardino's final-round 280 was the lowest round of the tournament and helped the Coyotes rally from a nine-shot deficit at the start of the day.
 

University of North Carolina senior Danielle Spaulding was named a finalist for the 2010 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year, announced by the Amateur Softball Association of America (ASA). This is the second consecutive year the pitcher/first baseman has been named to the top-25 list.

The Collegiate Player of the Year award, which is the most prestigious honor in Division I women's softball, is designed to recognize outstanding athletic achievement by female collegiate players across the country.

Spaulding, a two-time All-America and ACC Player of the Year, currently leads Carolina's pitchers with a 0.87 ERA, 184 strike outs and .101 opponent's batting average. She also is in the top five in five different Atlantic Coast Conference pitching statistics.

During this season Spaulding, a graduate of Etiwanda High School, has pitched five no hitters and is the leader of all current NCAA pitchers in strikeouts per seven innings with a 11.8 rate. Spaulding, a Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. product, also leads all Tar Heel batters with a .351 batting average this season.

The Top-25 list represents 20 schools and seven different NCAA Div. I Conferences. The list is comprised of 10 seniors, seven juniors, one sophomore and seven freshmen. Four ACC players were named to the list and the Pac-10 leads all conferences with eight selections.

Cal Poly Pomona's Jennnifer Chow has been named the Penn/CCAA Women's Tennis Player of the Week for the week of April 5-11.

Chow, a junior from Diamond Bar,won the deciding match, defeating Valerie Tang at No. 3 singles, 2-6, 6-0, 6-4, as the Broncos snapped UC San Diego's 65-match CCAA winning streak with a 6-3 victory on April 7.

Chow also earned a singles victory at No. 2 in Saturday's 6-3 win over Cal State San Bernardino and teamed with Jackie Trendt to record a win at No. 1 doubles.

She has an overall record of 11-4. She is 12-5 in doubles with Trendt.

The University of Redlands and Pomona-Pitzer baseball teams have separated themselves from the rest of the pack so the SCIAC title will come down to those two.

Redlands got brilliant pitching and posted wins of 6-2 and 7-1 over the Sagehens on Saturday. Pitzer was equally dominant in the opener on Friday, winning 9-2. So now all the three-game series are done and its on to round-robin play.

Each team has one game against all the others so it is a chance for the lesser teams to be the spoiler. But don't count on it. Barring an unforseen upset the title will come down to the last head-to-head battle between the teams on April 24 at Redlands.

The highlight of Saturday's doubleheader was a monster collision between the Bulldogs' Nate Carlson and Sagehens catcher James Brunswick with Carlson attempting to score from second on a hit in the third inning of the second game which Redlands was leading 5-0.

Carlson is a big dude - the roster says 6-4. Brunswick is 5-11, a small 5-11 at that. Carlson barreled in and Brunswick went flying, yet made the tag and hung on to the ball for the final out of the inning. Carlsown was ejected for not sliding, which Redlands coach Scott Laverty conceded was the right call.

How many times does the guy making the great defensive play lead off the next inning? Yes most of the time. And Brunswick got a hit and later scored. But that was about the only highlight of the day for the Sagehens.

Both are quality teams. And barring something unexpected, both should make the regional tournament. And both have the potential to make a run. It is ivalry in full bloom and should only get better!

Two locals are making an impact in their first season with the Dowling College softball team. The Golden Lions, who compete in the Division II East Coast Conference, are 21-9 overall, including a sparkling 17-1 at home.

Freshman designated Stephanie Tarango, out of Etiwanda High School, is hitting .333 (33-for-99) with 14 runs scored, five doubles and five home runs.

Junior pitcher Felicia Mendoza, out of Bloomington High School, is one of the team's top pitchers. She holds a record of 6-2 with an ERA of 1.63 and batting average against of .177. She has allowed just 33 hits and struck out 59 in 52 innings.

Mendoza played two years at Riverside Community College before moving on to Dowling.

The Cal State San Bernardino baseball team polished off local rival Cal Poly Pomona 6-0 on Friday at Scolinos Field. The playoff picture is starting to look quite nice for Coach Don Parnell's Coyotes (20-12, 19-11).

Cal State has 10 CCAA games left and they will ALL be at home. And they're all against teams under .500. So the Coyotes probably won't just make the four-team field for the CCAA Tournament. They have a good shot at third and a decent shot at second place. They need to come out of the four hole so they don't have to play San Diego in the first game.

Friday it was senior pitcher Brandon Cunniff with a masterful complete game shuout of the Broncos. He gave up just five hits, all of them singles. That performance could land him CCAA Pitcher of the week honors, an accolade teammate Daniel Stenavich earned last week.

The Coyotes are nice, fun bunch to watch. I'm particularly impressed with freshman leadoff hitter and centerfielder Ethan Chapman. He is a product of Upland Christian School. It's hard to predict how players from such a small school are going to pan out on a bigger stage. They don't play enough against quality competition.

Chapman has 10 homers, surprising pop from a small guy. He also had 14 doubles and never stops hustling.

The Coyotes will play a doubleheader against Cal Poly at Fiscalini Field on Saturday. The first pitch is set for 11 a.m. It's a team well worth watching!

Cal State San Bernardino athletes Jamie Leffingwell and Daniel Stenavich have earned weekly honors from the CCAA.

Leffingwell, a freshman outfielder has been named the Worth/CCAA Player of the Week for the week of March 29 - April 4.

The Cajon High School product had a hot week at the plate in five games against Notre Dame de Namur and Chico State, batting .706 (12-for-17) with four runs scored, five doubles, a home run and five RBI. She recorded a 1.176 slugging percentage, .706 on-base percentage and had two more hits in each contest.

During a three-game series at Chico State, Leffingwell batted .600 (6-for-10) with two runs scored and four RBI.

Leffingwell's showing helped propel the Coyotes into fourth place which would be good enough to qualify for the CCAA Tournament next month.

In baseball Coyotes' right-hander Daniel Stenavich has been named Wilson/CCAA Pitcher of the Week. 

Stenavich, a senior from San Diego, Calif., went 1-0 with a 2.84 ERA in his lone start against top-ranked conference-leader UC San Diego. He went 6 1/3 innings, allowed three hits, two runs, walked two and struck out two while limiting the CCAA's top-hitting team to a .150 average.

Stenavich's outing enabled Cal State San Bernardino to split the four-game series with the Coyotes and remain in the hunt for a CCAA Tournament berth.

The Cal State San Bernardino baseball team won't win the CCAA title but it is fighting for a berth in the four-team tournament and that goal is realistic

The Coyotes turned in an impressive 4-3 win over No. 1 UC San Diego on Thursday at Fiscalini Field. The Tritons are pretty cocky when it comes to every sport so that's a nice win.

The Coyotes got a gutsy effort on the mound from Cajon graduate Aaron Brooks.They strung together some hits and rallied against San Diego's Tim Shibuya, possibly the best pitcher in the conference this season.

They got back-to-back-to back doubles in getting three runs in the third, only to have San Diego tie it in the fourth. The difference was a bases loaded sacrifice fly by Cody Madison with one out in the seventh.

Ethan Chapman and Erik Orlenas each had two doubles and had two RBI.

Neither team made an error. That's rare in a college baseball game. The Coyotes were particularly strong up the middle with James Kono at short and Ornelas at second having solid games.

Game two of the series will be at 3 p.m. at Fiscalini on Friday.