BATESOLE WAITS FOR SUPPORT.

Byline: Rizza Yap Daily News Staff Writer

Work no longer means going to a trailer office and coaching on a field voted in 1991 as the worst facility in NCAA Division I baseball.

These days former Newbury Park resident Tim Montez is recruiting players to a 2-year-old, $8.9 million stadium at the University of Arkansas as assistant coach in charge of recruiting and pitching.

Just six months ago, Montez was part of Mike Batesole's coaching staff at Cal State Northridge. Because of budget and gender-equity problems, university administrators cut the program June 11, only 2-1/2 weeks before Montez's contract with the school would expire.

Two months later, he accepted an assistant baseball coaching job at Arkansas, unsure of what moving to the Southeast would have in store for him, his wife and two kids. Today Montez considers himself lucky. ``When I coached in Santa Barbara, I drove 65 miles one way to work - at Northridge it was 35 miles,'' Montez said. ``Now I'm 5-1/2 miles away from work, and it's neat to go home for lunch. My boys are fitting in well, and my wife thinks she's Betty Crocker - canning, baking.

``My office is no longer in a trailer, and I no longer have to sleep in it (because of a long commute). At work I have more support than I know what to do with, and it's a nice problem to have. The emphasis on athletics here is second to none.

``Now I come to the ballpark and the office, and I'm counting my blessings.''

Still, a few things bother Montez.

It's knowing the CSUN baseball program - reinstated for the 1998 season by a one-time state grant - is endangered and that Batesole is working in an athletic department that isn't likely to be stable anytime soon.

The baseball program that claimed two national championships in Division II, reached four regionals since moving to Division I in 1991 and won the Western Athletic Conference in 1996 now consists of just three returners. Only nine graduated from last year's 27-member team.

Except for freshman Eric Horvat from Hart High, Batesole has not seen any of his newcomers in action. Most joined the program within three weeks of Batesole learning his program would return for another year.

``We had to sign just about everybody on the team without seeing them play, without knowing their character,'' Batesole said. ``I got to spend a few weeks with these kids. And so far, it's a tremendous group as far as their makeup. We got really lucky. But I haven't seen any of them play in a game. They're a great bunch of kids character-wise, but what their physical abilities are is a completely different question.''

The team begins practice Monday.

Batesole is also concerned about recruiting. Even if this team plays like a champion and the team is saved, it will be very difficult to attract players to a program that maintains its own facility by doing grounds keeping work as part of practice time.

The answer, according to Batesole, his assistants and current and past players, is a new baseball stadium - one that rivals that of any Division I program, capable of attracting elite teams to Northridge.

It has been 22 years since Northridge was at the forefront of facility improvement by becoming the first West Coast college campus to install a covered batting cage. Today, members of the program - which runs on an overall budget of $290,560 that includes nine scholarships - are hoping for a new home.

``It really gets old when you look in your shoes for black widows,'' said pitcher Gabe Zappin, talking about the baseball clubhouse in last week's Task Force on Intercollegiate Athletics meeting. ``I don't know of many teams who have the honor of being ranked top 10 in the country, or won the WAC, have 20 players drafted by a professional team and have a player - (1997 shortstop) Adam Kennedy - up for the Golden Spikes Award. We should have 17 returning players next year, but at the rate things are going . . .''

At the rate things are going, more Northridge players will scatter throughout the country after the '98 season, scrambling to adjust to programs that take them in at the last minute.

``I was (at Northridge) for three years, and we had great seasons my last two years, but nobody wanted to buy us a stadium,'' said Benny Flores, now a senior pitcher for Cal State Fullerton. ``That's one of the things that really angered me. . . . It was something that should have been there since coach Batesole stepped on the field (in 1996).''

Batesole said at one point he thought Northridge was committed to building a new venue for baseball. Two years ago, he said, he saw what looked to be blueprints of a stadium in athletic director Paul Bubb's office. Montez said the same.

``I saw the blueprints. I just know I was in Paul's office and I saw them on the desk,'' Montez said. ``I looked at them, and that's what they were.''

Bubb said it must have been a case of misunderstanding.

``I have never shown Mike Batesole blueprints of a baseball facility,'' Bubb said. ``What I did show him at one time was a reconfiguration of bleachers at the existing field. We still have the same bleachers, though, because we've never had the money to put in the new stands.''

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PHOTO When practice starts Monday, coach Mike Batesole will welcome several recruits he's never seen play.

Terri Thuente / Daily News