Chapman Drops Yet Another to CSUN, 6-1

For Mike Weathers, Chapman College baseball coach, the 1985 season has been a seemingly endless continuum of frustrations.

Just when his Panthers seem to happen upon a bit of good fortune, they nullify it by stumbling over a new obstacle.

And Friday afternoon at Hart Park, that nagging trend persisted. This time it was the Chapman defense that faltered, committing four errors that led to five unearned runs, which erased the impressive starting debut of freshman pitcher Steve Dunn and enabled Cal State Northridge to coast to a 6-1 California Collegiate Athletic Assn. win over the Panthers.

For the Matadors (28-13 overall, 8-4 in conference), it was their second straight win over Chapman in a four-game set between the teams, which concludes today with a doubleheader at Northridge. Game time for the opener is noon.

“If it’s not one thing, it’s the other,” Weathers said. “All year our offense has been nothing, but we’ve played well defensively. And today we get a pretty good showing from the freshman in his first start, and play poor defensively. It’s always something.”

Dunn, who had appeared strictly as a reliever this season prior to Friday’s game, held the defending NCAA Division II national champions to a scoreless tie through six innings, before his defense began its collapse.

After Matador designated hitter Dick Jaquez reached second with a walk followed by a sacrifice to begin the seventh, Panther third baseman Eli Amaya had trouble handling a routine grounder by Gary Williams, which put runners on first and second with one out. That set up an RBI single by Tom McKay, as Dunn exited the game trailing, 1-0--an impressive first start for the 6-2 left-hander.

However, a sacrifice fly by Mark Ban--which should have ended the inning--instead scored Northridge’s second run and enabled power-hitting first baseman Paul Kaplan to follow with his 10th home run of the season. It was a two-run shot that gave the Matadors a 4-0 lead.

Chapman’s fielding mishaps continued into the eighth, as two of the first four Northridge hitters to step up to the plate reached first base via mishandled ground balls. Pinch-hitter Darryl Gilliam and Williams took advantage with sacrifice flies, which scored two more unearned runs and gave the Matadors a 6-0 advantage.

“In the times we’ve seen Chapman this year,” said Northridge Coach Terry Craven, “that (defense) really hasn’t been a problem for them. But those things happen to teams, and luckily we were able to take advantage.”

Craven also was surprised with the trouble his team had in the early innings offensively against an inexperienced pitcher like Dunn.

“It took us a while to get started today,” he said, “but I guess all we needed was that spark.”

That spark the Panthers gave the Matadors allowed Northridge starting pitcher Tom Harmon a sufficient lead to pick up his second complete-game victory over Chapman this season. He lost his shutout bid when Chapman’s Craig Kuhse hit his ninth home run of the season in the ninth inning.

Harmon (6-2) scattered nine hits and struck out six, keeping the Panther offense in check until the Matadors could get on the scoreboard.

Weathers said of Harmon’s performance: “It’s certainly been tough for us to score runs off him. He’s beaten us twice this season, and he pitched well.”

In Harmon’s last start against Chapman, on March 20 at Hart Park, he beat them 3-2 and threw 148 pitches.

Craven was pleased with the 5-11 senior’s showing Friday, despite the fact that Harmon needed 120 pitches to wrap up the victory.

“He did a real good job,” Craven said. “He has a good variety of pitches, so he’s able to keep the hitters off balance. He has a sneaky-type fastball which worked really well for him. He was getting a little tired in the last inning, and we had two guys ready to go. But considering the situation, there was no reason to take him out.”

Designated hitter Ivan Camacho was the only Panther who was able to solve Harmon. The speedy junior collected three singles in five at-bats to lead all hitters. For Northridge, Kaplan had a single to complement his home run and spearhead the Matador offensive attack. Ban reached first base four times in five trips to the plate, with a single and three walks.

For the Matadors, freshmen pitchers Jeremy Hernandez and John LaRosa are expected to start in today’s doubleheader.

When asked about Chapman’s starters, Weathers said, “Mike Lomeli will start the first game . . . and I don’t know about the second. I seems so far down the road right now.”