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SMALL COLLEGE NOTEBOOK

Sea Warriors limp home

The Hawaii Pacific baseball team just concluded its only mainland road trip of the season with a disastrous six losses in a row after winning the road opener. The Sea Warriors had entered the trip with a slim chance of postseason play, yet those hopes were dashed as their record now stands at 15-16. The Sea Warriors will have one last opportunity to reach .500 when they visit Western Athletic Conference member UH-Hilo Vulcans for their final game of the season at the end of this month.

Vulcans in heart of Texas

After dropping two of three extremely tight contests with the Rice Owls, the UH-Hilo Vulcans remain in the Lone Star state to visit Texas Christian University for a three-game series that began yesterday and concludes tomorrow in Fort Worth. The Vulcans won the only series of their brief WAC history when they edged the Horned Frogs two games to one on the Big Island earlier this season. With yesterday's loss in the opener (see story at right), the Vulcans are at the bottom of the WAC standings at 5-14, 14-23 overall. Head coach Joey Estrella is just three wins shy of 500 for his career.

Basketball teams score

Tuesday was the first day for incoming basketball recruits to sign binding national letters of intent to play at the schools of their choice. While letters will continue to come in throughout the spring, HPU and Chaminade have already received signatures from players who will make an immediate impact.

Highlighting the Sea Warriors incoming class will be 6-foot, 9-inch post player Marcos Lagemann from Brazil. Coach Tony Sellitto said that Lagemann, who transferred from Division I Texas Pan-American, will be an immediate starter.

The Silverswords signed an impact post player of their own in 6-7, 240- pound Igor Beljanski. Beljanski transferred from Seward County Community College in Kansas.

Tennis regionals anyone?

After coming off huge tournament victories at the Blue-Gray Tennis Classic in Montgomery, Ala., both the HPU men and BYUH women continued their winning ways Tuesday. The Sea Warriors defeated the BYUH men, 6-3, and the Lady Seasiders defeated the HPU women, 9-0.

Both Sea Warriors and both Seasiders teams now have a break in competition until the NCAA Division II West regionals, which begin early next month. The No. 1-ranked Lady Seasiders are the defending NCAA Division II champions, while the No. 2-ranked Sea Warriors men are a strong contender for their first-ever national championship.

UH-Hilo softball sweeps

The University of Hawaii softball team swept Cal State-San Bernardino 3-0 and 10-4 in California on Wednesday. In the first game, Michelle Canchola tossed a complete game three-hitter and struck out four for the Vulcans. At the plate, Melanie Hipwell and Leinani Hashida led the way. Hipwell was 2-for-3 with two runs scored, and Hashida was 2-for-3 with two RBIs. In the second game, the Vulcans (19-13) pounded out 14 hits.

Hashida once again had a big game, going 4-for-5. Chenelle Chikazawa was 3-for-4 with two RBIs and Diana Kim, Julee Itamura and Tiffany Laranio all collected two hits.

Taysha Anderson was the winning pitcher.

Members only

The NCAA Management Councils in all three divisions agreed to a recommendation for a two-year moratorium on new membership in the association on Tuesday.

The recommendation would establish an immediate moratorium until Sept. 1, 2002, for new members and requests for change of division membership. The recommendation will be forwarded to the appropriate presidential group in each division and then to the NCAA's Executive Committee, both later this month.

The recommendation was prompted in large part by the rapid expansion of Division II, the smallest of the three NCAA divisions since the current structure was put in place in 1972. Since the inception of provisional membership back in 1994, Division II has experienced a 21 percent increase in growth.

Besides providing for current active and provisional members, totaling 297 institutions nationwide, Division II has been overrun with membership requests from Division III and NAIA schools. Schools currently participating in Division III find Division II appealing because institutions in the latter have the ability to provide athletic-related financial aid, while those in the former do not.

The four Division II schools here in the islands - Hawaii Pacific University, Brigham Young University-Hawaii, Chaminade and the University of Hawaii-Hilo - do not figure to be significantly affected by the recommendation as they are all currently active and compliant members.

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By Brandon Lee, Special to the Star-Bulletin