Dan Loyd

Baseball can be defined as a quest to return home. Life, too, sometimes. Dan Loyd and Jim Stout, 23-year-old seniors for the Cal Lutheran baseball team, speak from experience with voices that resonate with maturity. Having come full-circle, both are grateful to be home again. Loyd, a first baseman, and Stout, a center fielder, have provided a transfer of power this season for Cal Lutheran (16-5-2), which hosts UC San Diego today in a nonconference doubleheader.

Baseball can be defined as a quest to return home. Life, too, sometimes. Dan Loyd and Jim Stout, 23-year-old seniors for the Cal Lutheran baseball team, speak from experience with voices that resonate with maturity. Having come full-circle, both are grateful to be home again. Loyd, a first baseman, and Stout, a center fielder, have provided a transfer of power this season for Cal Lutheran (16-5-2), which hosts UC San Diego today in a nonconference doubleheader.

Tom Canale struck out nine in seven innings and host Cal Lutheran beat Occidental, 8-1, Friday to clinch the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship outright. It is the eighth SCIAC title in the last nine seasons for the Kingsmen (23-8-2, 17-2 in conference play). Canale surrendered four hits and one earned run. Eric Medina and Dan Loyd hit consecutive solo home runs in a four-run seventh inning for Cal Lutheran.

Defending champion: La Mirada. Top teams: La Mirada (9-1), Yucaipa (9-1), Bellflower (8-2), Riverside La Sierra (9-1). Dark horses: San Marino, Costa Mesa. San Marino, the Rio Hondo League champion, advanced to last year's Division VIII title game and returns to the playoffs behind quarterback Dan Loyd. Costa Mesa's ball-control rushing style fits well in this division, and the Mustangs do it better than most. Top players: Oscar Casillas (Santa Monica St.

Pepperdine 9, Santa Clara 0--Robert Kendrick defeated Lars Nelson, 6-1, 6-1 for No. 6-ranked Pepperdine (9-0). BASEBALL Pepperdine 17, UC Santa Barbara 9--Danny Garcia had a home run and three doubles for the Waves (6-7) in a nonconference game at Santa Barbara. Pepperdine, which trailed, 5-0, after one inning, hit five home runs. CS Northridge 6, West Virginia 4--Eric Horvat and Tim Arroyo each had two hits for the Matadors (6-6) in the Las Vegas tournament.

The Master's College has been seeded No. 8 and plays unseeded Campbellsville (Ky.) in the first round of the NAIA men's basketball national tournament Tuesday at the Tulsa Convention Center in Oklahoma. Master's (26-5) is making its seventh consecutive appearance in the tournament. Campbellsville (23-10), ranked No. 25 in the final regular-season NAIA poll, lost to No. 3-seeded Georgetown (Ky.), 73-65, in the semifinals of the Mid-South Conference tournament last weekend. Life (Ga.

Cal Lutheran opened its baseball season Friday by sweeping Simpson College, 17-1 and 16-0, in a nonconference doubleheader in Thousand Oaks. Simpson committed 14 errors and had 10 wild pitches. Ryan Yoshiwara had five hits and five Kingsmen pitchers struck out 21 and allowed five hits. Backup first baseman Andy Luttrell doubled, homered and drove in five runs in two at-bats. Dan Loyd and Eric Medina hit home runs in the first game.

Cal Lutheran's long day in the second round of the NCAA Division III West Regional baseball tournament turned all wet late Friday. The Kingsmen went quietly in the morning session, losing, 4-0, to Southern California-rival Chapman. Thunderstorms washed out the nightcap against host Southwestern. The game was rescheduled for 11 a.m. today, but NCAA officials, after checking regional weather predictions, said there was a slightly better than 50-50 chance of starting the game on time.

Defending champion: Trabuco Hills (now in Division I). Top teams: La Mirada (10-0), Bloomington (10-0), Laguna Hills (8-2), San Marino (8-2). Dark horse: Duarte (5-4-1) has outscored its last three opponents, 129-12, and won its last four games. Though beaten by La Mirada, 48-6, in Week 3, the Falcons would get a rematch in the second round.

So much for the pitching duel. Cal Lutheran collected 20 hits Thursday against three pitchers and still had to come from behind to upset George Fox, Ore., 11-7, in the opening round of the NCAA Division III West Regional baseball tournament at Southwestern University. It was the seventh consecutive victory in regional games for the Kingsmen, dating to 1998.