Northridge Wins CCAA Tuneup, 9-6

Terry Craven had other things on his mind when a young woman, probably a Cal State Northridge student, approached him Wednesday after his Matadors’ 9-6 win over Azusa Pacific.

Earlier a foul ball had left Matador Diamond and turned the windshield of the woman’s car into plate-glass gravy.

“Just like it’s happened to 200 other people,” explained Craven, directing her toward the campus police. “OK, what were we talking about?”

Reporters were asking about his CSUN baseball team, which will open California Collegiate Athletic Assn. play today. In a final two-game nonconference tuneup, the Matadors on Tuesday upset Division I Pepperdine, which was ranked No. 6 in the nation, and came from behind Wednesday to beat Azusa Pacific, an NAIA team.

A windshield, or the lack thereof, couldn’t have been further from Craven’s mind. He’s trying to put a conference contender together. The Matadors (12-6) have plenty of hitting--it brought them back on Wednesday--but it was pitching that had Craven thinking.

“What we were trying to do was let some people, who are not that far away from a starting position, play,” he said.

Tony Estrada, Craven said, will be CSUN’s No. 3 or 4 pitcher. Estrada started against Azusa Pacific and gave up 11 hits, including three homers, and five runs in 4 innings.

“He hasn’t had a chance to pitch on a regular basis,” Craven said. “I just hope that when we call on him on a particular day, he’s sharp.”

Azusa Pacific jumped out to an early lead. Frank Augiano opened the second inning with a single, then stole second base. Leonard Avalos drove him in with a long single down the right-field line.

Cougar catcher Scott Winterburn opened the third with a homer to left. Later in the inning, Javier Murillo drove in Ralph Acosta and the Cougars led, 3-0.

In the CSUN third, catcher Dan Muzzey got aboard on an error, Jim Vatcher singled, and both advanced on Jim Mitchell’s bunt. Lenn Gilmore then doubled, scoring Muzzey and Vatcher. Gilmore stole third and was singled home by Mark Anderson, tying the score.

Azusa Pacific (12-9) went ahead in the fifth, 5-3, on back-to-back home runs by Augiano and Avalos. Craven then replaced Estrada with Pablo Suarez, CSUN’s only freshman.

Suarez gave up two hits and no runs before being replaced by Alan Jaeger in the ninth. Jaeger yielded the final Azusa Pacific run.

Northridge scored three more runs in fifth and one in the sixth, then two in the seventh on consecutive home runs by Scott Rodunsky and Muzzey, the last two batters in CSUN’s order.