CSUN Is in No Mood to Cope With No. 6 UCLA, 13-2

Terry Craven admitted he isn’t exactly sure of the word’s meaning, but he used it anyway to describe the recent shortcomings of his Cal State Northridge baseball team.

“We’re in a funk ,” Craven said after his Matadors lost, 13-2, in a nonconference game at UCLA on Friday. “We’re in a mystery zone where guys haven’t been doing what they’re capable of doing. We’re at a point where something’s missing, whether it be a key hit or strong pitching.”

Hitting kept CSUN in the two high-scoring games it split this week, but Friday the Matadors’ pitching and hitting deserted them. Six Bruin pitchers limited CSUN (17-10) to two hits, while UCLA roughed up three Northridge pitchers for 15 hits.

“We scored a lot of runs this week,” Craven said, referring to the 32 hits and 29 runs CSUN had in two games earlier this week. “Today, we hit rock bottom. Something’s got to get us out of this.”

And soon, too. Northridge returns to California Collegiate Athletic Assn. play at noon today with a doubleheader against Cal State L.A.

After being retired in order in the first, Northridge took the field and watched the No. 6 Division I team go to work. Designated-hitter Steve Stowell was hit by CSUN starter Tony Estrada. Former Camarillo High outfielder Charlie Fiacco came to the plate and drove an Estrada fastball over the right-field fence to give the Bruins a 2-0 lead.

UCLA (24-9-1) scored one in the second and two more in the third, before putting together a seven-run fourth. Estrada walked Bobby Holley to lead off the fourth. Stowell doubled, scoring Holley. Fiacco walked, Estrada struck out Torey Lovullo, the nation’s leading home run hitter, and Eric Karros got aboard on an error.

With the bases loaded, Bob Hamelin homered, giving UCLA a 10-0 lead and Craven reason to replace Estrada with Robert Wheatcroft. On Wheatcroft’s first pitch, Steve Hisey homered, his fifth. Jeff Osborn then singled and successive walks loaded the bases again.

Craven replaced Wheatcroft with Fili Martinez, who hit Stowell with a pitch, scoring Osborn. UCLA took the field in the fifth with a 12-0 lead.

CSUN scored its runs in the sixth. Catcher Dan Fernandez scored on a wild pitch and Pierre Rodnunsky was forced home on a walk. UCLA scored its final run in the seventh when Mike Hankins, who played at Simi Valley High, scored on a sacrifice fly by Scott St. John. Hankins, who replaced Lovullo in the seventh, got aboard on a single to center.

Lovullo, the former Southern Section Player of the Year from Montclair Prep who leads the nation with 15 home runs, had two singles, preserving a hitting streak that stands at 18 games.