CAL LUTHERAN KNOWS THE ROPES; KINGSMEN MAKING THEIR FIFTH WORLD SERIES APPEARANCE OF '90S.Byline: Jim Inghram Daily News Staff Writer When the NCAA NCAA abbr. National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III
Division III (or DIII) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association of the United States. College World Series opens today in Salem, Va., one certainty is Cal Lutheran will not be awed by the event. The Kingsmen are making their fifth appearance of the decade, including a visit last season. The team has failed to win a championship, but if experience counts, then the Kingsmen have to be considered among the favorites. ``The guys are pretty locked in,'' said Cal Lutheran coach Marty Slimak, from the team's hotel in Roanoke, Va. ``You can see their concentration level is high. Twelve guys that were on last year's team are back. They got a taste last year when we lost two games and were out. They don't want to experience that again.'' The Kingsmen (31-12), who captured the SCIAC SCIAC SIGINT Correlation Integration & Analysis Capability conference title and won the West Regional championship in Austin, Texas, last weekend, open with Cortland State of New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of at 7 a.m. (Pacific Daylight Time). Cortland State (35-8), the East Regional winner, has a .315 team batting average batting average n. Baseball A measure of a batter's performance obtained by dividing the total of base hits by the number of times at bat, not including walks. Noun 1. and a 2.28 team ERA. The team is led by junior outfielder Scott Weston (.364), sophomore outfielder Craig Kerner (.365, six home runs, 37 RBI RBI abbr. Baseball runs batted in Noun 1. rbi - a run that is the result of the batter's performance; "he had more than 100 rbi last season" run batted in ) and junior second baseman second baseman n. Baseball The infielder who is positioned near and to the first-base side of second base. Noun 1. second baseman - (baseball) the person who plays second base second sacker Mike LaPointe (.333, 31 RBI). The Red Dragons' top pitcher is left-hander Scott Brown Scott Brown may refer to:
``Anybody who gets here has to be good,'' Slimak said. ``You have to have a balanced offense and good pitching. Everyone here does and so do we. It's just a matter of who gets hot. We did in Texas and we're hoping it carries over here.'' The Kingsmen, who were seeded third of four teams in the West Regional, won three straight in Texas, including two victories over top seed Chapman. Pitching today's opener for Cal Lutheran is sophomore right-hander Tom Canale. Canale, of Payson, Ariz., is 9-5 with an ERA of 2.09. He struck out 124 in 116 innings. Canale pitched the opener in the West Regional and defeated Southwestern State of Texas 8-3. Following him in the rotation will be senior right-handers Erik Kiszczak and Adam Springston. ``Tom has had such a great season,'' Slimak said. ``It would be an injustice if we gave the ball to anyone else in that first game.'' The Kingsmen's most effective reliever has been 6-foot-6 junior right-hander Wayne Mahaffey. The Canyon High graduate picked up two wins with superb efforts in Texas and has a 2.85 ERA in 18 appearances. ``One reason I feel confident,'' Slimak said, ``is the bottom of our lineup. The six, seven, eight and nine hitters have been coming through and our bullpen has been keeping us in games or keeping it close, allowing us a chance to rally. It's things like that, the unexpected sources that help you win the big games.'' The team, which arrived in Roanoke late Tuesday, had early morning practices Wednesday and Thursday to try to prepare for its early start time today. A victory over Cortland State and the Kingsmen will play at 1 p.m. (PDT PDT abbr. Pacific Daylight Time PDT Pacific Daylight Time PDT n abbr (US) (= Pacific Daylight Time) → hora de verano del Pacífico PDT ) on Saturday against the North Carolina-Wesleyan-Brandies (Mass.) winner. A loss and they play the loser at 7 a.m. (PDT). ``We set a goal for ourselves at the beginning of the season to get here,'' Slimak said. ``We're here now and we have a good feeling that we could win it all.'' AT A GLANCE What: NCAA Division III College World Series. Who: Cal Lutheran and seven other region winners from across the nation: Cortland State (NY), North Carolina-Wesleyan, Brandeis (Mass.), William Patterson Noun 1. William Patterson - American Revolutionary leader (born in Ireland) who was a member of the Constitutional Convention (1745-1806) Paterson (N.J.), Aurora (Ill.), St. Thomas (Minn.) and Marietta (Ohio). When: Today through Tuesday. Where: Salem, Va. Games are being played at the Salem Memorial Baseball Stadium Lewis-Gale Medical Center Field at Salem Memorial Baseball Stadium is a stadium in Salem, Virginia and is part of the James E. Taliferro Sports and Entertainment Complex along with the Salem Civic Center and Salem Football Stadium. , the home of the Single-A Salem Avalanche of the Carolina League. Notable: This is the Kingsmen's fifth appearance of the '90's. . . . Five players were named to the All-Regional team in Texas: Tom Canale (P), Eric Medina (C), Ryan Yoshiwara (2B), Chris Tahan (SS) and Brad Smith (DH). . . . The Kingsmen have eight players hitting .325 or better. CAPTION(S): Photo, Box PHOTO (Color in Simi Edition only) Pitcher Adam Sprungston and his Kingsmen teammates are competing in the NCAA Division III College World Series. The team opens against Cortland State Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News BOX: AT A GLANCE (See text) |
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