COLLEGE BASEBALL NOTEBOOK: CSUN BENEFITS FROM LYONS' HEART.

Byline: HEATHER GRIPP Staff Writer

Scott Lyons seemed to be anything but a freshman as he drove in two runs with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift Cal State Northridge's baseball team to a 4-3 upset of Long Beach State on April 13.

The performance wasn't uncommon for Lyons, one of the brightest in a cast of newcomers restoring respectability to a CSUN program that has struggled in recent years.

Lyons, from Charter Oak High of Covina, is batting .306 and is second on the team with 21 RBIs. He has been a regular at shortstop, making 29 starts and appearing in all but four games for a team that already has matched last season's win total.

"He's kind of exceeded our expectations," CSUN coach Steve Rousey said. "But on the other hand, we recruited him because we knew he was pretty talented. ... We knew what he was capable of.

"He's a pretty mature freshman, and he's done a number of things well."

Lyons usually bats leadoff or third in the lineup. The winning hit against Long Beach State was just part of his big week last week. He drove in two runs Saturday to tie the score in another game against Long Beach State and scored the winning run against No. 23 San Diego on April 11.

"He's been a nice addition," Rousey said.

--Remembering Dedeaux: USC will salute former coach Rod Dedeaux before Saturday's 1 p.m. home game against Washington. Several former players are expected to attend the 12:20 p.m. ceremony.

Dedeaux, who guided USC to 11 national championships and 28 conference titles, died Jan. 5 at the age of 91.

--Honored: Pepperdine sophomore right-hander Barry Enright is the West Coast Conference's Pitcher of the Week for the second time this season. Enright (7-1) won his seventh consecutive decision Friday, holding Santa Clara scoreless in seven-plus innings.

He was perfect through the first four innings and surrendered six hits in the 3-0 victory.

--In elite company: Pepperdine senior second baseman David Uribes joined the 300-hit club with six hits in last weekend's three-game sweep of Santa Clara.

His total is second in school history (Paul Faries had 314 in 1984-87) and fourth in the WCC.

The Waves will look for more hits from Uribes when they face WCC co-leader San Diego in a three-game home series beginning today at 3 p.m.

--Short hops: UCLA freshman outfielder Tim Murphy returned to the starting lineup for last weekend's series at Arizona after missing 25 games with a wrist injury. He doubled in his first at-bat back and finished with four hits and an RBI in the three-game series. ... Loyola Marymount senior outfielder Erik Johnson, from Chaminade of West Hills, extended his hitting streak to 24 games with a fifth-inning double in Tuesday's 8-4 upset of top-ranked Cal State Fullerton. ... The suspended CSUN-Long Beach State game, tied 3-3 after nine innings Saturday, is scheduled to resume May 10 at 3 p.m. at CSUN. ... Today's Pepperdine-San Diego game will be televised by CSTV.

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