BASEBALL

Cal coach to miss
isle series

By Al Chase
Star-Bulletin

The California Bears baseball team will be without head coach Bob Milano for this week's series with Hawaii at Rainbow Stadium.

Milano underwent triple bypass heart surgery yesterday morning hours before the Bears opened their season with a 10-9 loss at home to the San Francisco Dons.

Milano, in his 22nd season as head coach, has a career record of 661-613-4.

Associate head coach David Lawn will lead the Bears this week.

Whether aluminum bats will be used in the series was unresolved as of yesterday's Rainbow practice.

The Pacific-10 Conference's 1999 bat protocol states that all bats used in practice and games shall meet the Conference's 1999 Baseball Bat Standards and that nonwood bats used by conference members and nonconference opponents shall be manufactured by companies that provide a defense and indemnification from lawsuits.

UH head coach Les Murakami sent a fax to Hillerich & Bradsby Co., which makes the Louisville Slugger bats UH uses, asking when an indemnification agreement would be ready.

If there is no agreement, it will be another weekend of wood bats.