One of Them Will Have a Better Day

The influence of Frosty Westering on Scott Squires has been considerable since Squires, the football coach at Cal Lutheran, graduated from Pacific Lutheran in 1988.

A couple of phone calls prove it.

The answering machine in Squires’ office concludes its message with, “Make it a great day.”

The machine at the home of Westering, Pacific Lutheran’s football coach, ends with the same words.

Call Westering’s Pacific Lutheran office in Tacoma, Wash., and hear, “Remember, we don’t have a good day; we make it a good day.”

The messages are based on Psalm 118:24 of the Bible--”This is the day that the Lord hath made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

Westering and Squires plan to do exactly that Saturday, when Cal Lutheran plays host to Pacific Lutheran in a 1 p.m. game.

“I can’t wait for this game,” Squires said. “It’s a big deal and I’m excited. It’s neat to go against my mentor, but, not only that, this is a big game for our team. This is the kind of thing that, if we can pull off a victory, it would be an upset and just a great experience for our guys.”

Pacific Lutheran has been successful from the start of Westering’s 25-year tenure, which includes a 205-53-5 record peppered with highlights involving Cal Lutheran.

In Westering’s second game as Pacific Lutheran’s coach, the Lutes defeated Cal Lutheran, 31-9, in 1972. Westering’s 100th Pacific Lutheran victory also came over the Kingsmen, 34-14, the last time the schools met--in the 1979 NAIA Division II playoffs.

And since Westering, in his 34th year as a coach, carries a record of 249-79-7 into today’s game, his 250th career victory also could come against Cal Lutheran--and a man who played offensive guard and linebacker for him from 1985-87.

“I’m just so proud when my players go out and build their own programs,” Westerling said. “It’s going to take some time, but Scott will do a great job.

“He was a good player for us, but more than that, he was just a great guy, one of those guys who was kind of a leader on the team. When Scott was hired, he came up here and we spent a day, just talking and reminiscing about PLU football.”

Since then, the influence of Westering, who holds a doctorate in sports psychology, has gone beyond answering-service messages. Cal Lutheran’s annual preseason breakaway gatherings, and the coaches’ approaches to dealing with players and problems, are modeled after the Pacific Lutheran program.

The Lutes have also set a standard for success that Squires would like to emulate. Pacific Lutheran has been in the NAIA Division II playoffs 15 of the past 18 years, winning national titles in 1980, ’87 and ’93. The Lutes were runners-up in 1983, ‘85, ’91 and ’94.

Cal Lutheran, 3-6 last season in Squires’ first year as coach, lost its season opener to Menlo, 32-21, last week. Pacific Lutheran will be playing its opener.

“Both teams are going to be playing this game for what it will be, a great, competitive game that will be a lot of fun,” Westering said.

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Cal Lutheran’s three-way battle for the starting quarterback position officially ended Saturday with junior Zack Hernandez’s solid performance in the loss at Menlo.

An L.A. Baptist High graduate, Hernandez was given the start over Eric Jensen and Derek Brown. He took the opportunity and ran with it, same as he did with the football.

Although he played only the first half, Hernandez, an adept scrambler, led the Kingsmen in rushing with 66 yards and one touchdown in nine carries. He completed 10 of 15 passes for 94 yards and a touchdown. He did not throw an interception.

“I felt really good, really comfortable running the offense, and the coaches saw that,” Hernandez said. “They told me I run the offense the best, and I think my mobility was what really made my success.

“You don’t know how happy I was. I feel like I’m over a hump. It’s my team now, and I’m going to take it by the reins.”

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Along with the team logo, Cal Lutheran helmets also sport the number four on the back as a reminder to players to maintain intensity during the fourth quarter.

“It’s just a little thing we’ve got,” Hernandez said. “The fourth quarter is usually the hardest, and we want to be a good fourth-quarter team.”

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In less than one month, the Cal State Northridge baseball team starts three weeks of fall workouts, a prelude for what could be one of the worst seasons in school history.

“We are going to recruit all the way until January,” Coach Mike Batesole said. “Most likely, what we are going to find now are junior college players who won’t get their [Associate in Arts degrees] until after the fall.”

Northridge dropped baseball and three other men’s sports in June but later reinstated them for one year. Nearly all of the players who would have returned next season transferred elsewhere, leaving Batesole to scramble for players.

“I took a lot of players on the recommendations of other coaches,” Batesole said. “I’ve never seen most of them play.”

Batesole, headed for his third season in charge of the Matadors, said the roster probably will have only 18 or 19 players. The team last year carried 34 players.

“What we got is a bunch of kids who wanted to be here even after I gave them the worst-case scenario,” Batesole said.

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One player Batesole was counting on to anchor the pitching staff was right-hander Gabe Zappin, a transfer from Nevada.

But Zappin, who last season was 3-2 with four saves, is recovering from a broken right elbow.

“We didn’t know that until he got here,” Batesole said. “We had to take so many chances.”

Batesole doesn’t know when Zappin might join the team.

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Add Ventura to the list of football teams debuting a new logo this season. New Coach Terry Morris assembled a new staff of assistants and decided not to stop there.

The Pirates’ white helmets no longer will bear the logo of a swashbuckler but the name “Pirates” embossed in stylish lettering.

“It’s kind of like the New York Giants [logo],” offensive coordinator Scott Preston said. “Before, it was like a Tampa Bay Buccaneer deal.”

Tampa Bay and the Denver Broncos switched this season to new uniforms, including logos on the helmet. Northridge did the same.

Ventura opens the season Saturday night at Ventura High against West L.A.

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The Pepperdine men’s and women’s cross-country and water polo teams make their season debuts in tournaments this weekend.

The cross-country teams enter the San Diego Invitational on Saturday at University of San Diego. Both squads placed fifth last season in the West Coast Conference and both are picked to place fifth this season in the conference coaches’ poll. Pepperdine plays at Loyola Marymount on Sept. 20.

The water polo team plays host to Claremont-Mudd, Santa Clara and UC San Diego in the Wasko tournament. The Waves are ranked fourth in the American Water Polo Coaches Assn. poll behind top-ranked California, USC and Stanford.

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Correspondent Lauren Peterson and staff writers Fernando Dominguez and Vince Kowalick contributed to this notebook.