Northridge, Dominguez Split Pair

Until Andy Lopez took over the Cal State Dominguez Hills baseball program four years ago, the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. school was probably best known as the future site of the Olympic Velodrome and the home of a low-class, bottom-division baseball team.

But in the short time Lopez has been on campus, he has helped erase that baseball image and has gained the school respect from rival programs.

Saturday’s doubleheader split with Cal State Northridge at Matador Diamond enabled the Toros to remain in first place in the CCAA with a 17-8 mark, a game and a half ahead of defending conference champion Cal Poly Pomona. Dominguez Hills is 29-15 overall.

The Toros took the first game, 5-0, behind the six-hit pitching of junior right-hander Mike Asprey (4-1) and were ahead, 10-9, in the final inning of the night-cap, before Northridge hitters John Balfanz and Gary Williams connected for solo homers to earn the Matadors (10-14 and 19-24) the split with an 11-10 victory.

Four years ago, it would have been hard to imagine the Toros in a conference race with only five games left in a season. In 1982, the year before Lopez took over, Dominguez Hills spent much of the season losing and complaining about the short dimensions at Northridge.

Once, the Toros’ pre-game infield practice consisted of a coach hitting the ball over the fence while the team cheered and ran off the field.

“That was a bad group and a different era,” Northridge Coach Terry Craven said. “They’ve got a much better and classier team now.”

Lopez acknowledges that the road to respectability has been a long one.

“In my first year here, it was a complete zoo,” he said. “But we’ve got a good bunch of guys now and I’m proud of each and every one of them.”

Early in Saturday’s second game, the Toros took on the look of past teams, falling behind, 8-0, after four innings. However, they hit three home runs and scored six times in the fifth off Matador starter Dan Gonzalez to cut the CSUN lead down to size, 8-6.

Dominguez Hills added one in the sixth and three in the seventh to take the 10-9 lead before Balfanz and Williams came up with their heroics in the bottom half of the inning.

“This game is going to stick in my mind for a long time,” said Williams, who also hit a two-run homer in the Matadors’ four-run first. “As a baseball player, you always think of getting a chance with the game on the line and hope that you’ll come through. This time I did.”

Freshman left fielder Scott Stewart also hit two homers for Northridge, a pair of solo shots in the first and sixth.

Third baseman Fred Hanker paced Dominguez Hills, collecting six hits in nine at-bats during the doubleheader. He also had a three-run homer in the Toros’ six-run fifth.