CSUN Numbs Cal St. LA, 20-7 : Matadors, Behind Bernard and Ban, Pound Out 27 Hits

Using rosters and won-lost records as barometers, this week’s five-game series between Cal State Northridge and Cal State Los Angeles appeared to be a mismatch. The 20-7 beating Wednesday the Matadors inflicted upon the visiting Golden Eagles only helped to confirm it.

“They’ve got too many guns,” said Coach John Herbold after watching his overmatched 12-34 team lose its second in two days to Terry Craven’s defending NCAA Division II national champions. “They’ve got some guys who can play. They’re bigger, stronger and more experienced. They’re the best team in the conference.”

The Matadors, of course, will have to do more than beat up on a team made up mostly of mistake-prone freshmen to prevail over Cal State Dominguez Hills and Cal Poly Pomona in their nip-and-tuck race for the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. title. But catcher Gerry Bernard places as much significance in the last two games--and the next three--as he does in the next two weeks against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Pomoma.

“They’re all wins and that’s what we’re looking for,” said Bernard, who led the Matadors’ 27-hit attack with two singles, two doubles, a wind-aided home run and three runs batted in. “We gotta have this series. We’re not going to beat ourselves in this series.”

Craven is making certain of it. He keeps reminding his players of the pitfalls a series like this can present.

“He did warn us about looking ahead,” said Mark Ban, who drove in four CSUN runs with four singles. “He kind of pressed it into our minds that we have to win these first and then keep on winning.”

The Matadors (14-6, 34-17-1) put themselves into a hole three weeks ago by losing the last three games of a series to Dominguez Hills after winning the first two. But they are starting to recapture the form that took them to the 1984 College World Series.

“This team is ready to play ball,” Bernard said. “We’re hungry for a conference title and a national championship. We’re looking forward to that series with Pomona. I’m hoping it will come down to us and them for the title.”

Said Ban: “They’re a good, solid ballclub and we’ve got to be ready and play the way we can. If we don’t play our best baseball, we won’t beat them.”

If the Matadors didn’t play their best ball on Wednesday, they weren’t far from it. If it was a prize fight, they would have stopped it. The only inning in which CSUN failed to score was the fifth, when they had runners at second and third with one out. In all, five CSLA pitchers absorbed the bombardment, including Andy Herbold, the coach’s son, who pitched the last 1 innings.

Northridge took a 4-0 lead in the first inning against right-hander Steve Polverini (4-7) on a run-scoring hit by Ban and a three-run, opposite-field homer to left by Randy Gilmore, his fifth. Then, Bernard’s second-inning fly ball got into the wind and carried over the right-center wall to make it 5-1.

“I do have to give credit to the wind for that one,” Bernard said with a huge grin. “But the wind giveth and the wind taketh away. It took one from me yesterday (Tuesday).”

It was 8-4 before CSUN broke it open, sending 13 men to the plate in an eight-run sixth. The recipient of all this offense was Matador right-hander Tom Harmon (7-3), who allowed two homers by Mike Moore--including a three-run shot with two out in the ninth. He gave up 13 hits in going the distance.

The homers must have struck a nerve in Coach Herbold, who won’t have Moore next season. The sophomore center fielder, who transfered from the University of California, will join the Angels’ minor league organization next season.