College Baseball : Mustin Helps CSUN Bolt by Biola, 8-3

Todd Mustin singled past a drawn-in infield in the sixth inning to drive in the tying and go-ahead runs and spark Cal State Northridge to an 8-3 victory Thursday over Biola University in a game called after eight innings because of darkness.

The Matadors, who have begun their defense of the NCAA Division II national championship with a 3-0 record, got four more of their runs off the bat of Matt MacArthur.

The shortstop’s two-run homer followed Mustin’s hit and climaxed a four-run barrage that saw 10 CSUN players come to bat after Biola had taken a 3-2 lead.

in the top of the inning.

The Matadors’ Scott McIntyre singled to left, was sacrificed to second by Rod Shackelford and moved to third on the first of Darryl Gilliam’s three singles.

Mustin then smashed his shot past second baseman Bill Blakely to give Northridge a 4-3 lead. MacArthur, who also had three singles, followed by putting reliever Doug Wicks’ 0-1 pitch barely over the left-field fence to make it 6-3.

Biola, playing its first game of the season, grabbed a 2-0 lead in the second inning against starter Carl Butera on a walk to Denny Cooper and a home run to left field by Mike Gray on an 0-2 pitch.

Butera, who had control problems throughout his five innings of work, walked five batters, hit another, threw a wild pitch and yielded five hits before Jeremy Hernandez replaced him to start the sixth. Hernandez, who struck out four and allowed six hits over the final three innings, got the victory.

The Matadors, who collected 15 hits and stranded 12 base runners, took Butera off the hook with a pair of runs in the fifth off starter Dennis Briley.

Shackelford and Gilliam led off the inning with singles. After Mustin grounded into a force at third, MacArthur singled past third to score Gilliam. One out later, Mustin came home all the way from second on an infield hit by Dick Jaquez.

Briley walked Mike Richards to load the bases and Wicks, who started the game as Biola’s designated hitter and ended up with the loss, came in to strike out John Balfanz.

Northridge padded its lead in the seventh inning against Cooper--who started the game in right field--on RBI singles by MacArthur and Mark Ban.