3 Homers Not Enough to Avert 7-3 CSUN Loss

It’s a good thing for Cal State Dominguez Hills that Mike Aspray allowed Cal State Northridge only four hits Friday at Matador field. The percentages might have caught up with him.

Three of Northridge’s hits were home runs, but all of them were with the bases empty as the Matadors were cut down by Aspray’s knee-high pitches, 7-3, to fall four games behind the first-place Toros.

With one week left in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. season, Dominguez Hills is 19-6. Northridge is 15-10 and battling Cal Poly Pomona (14-10) for second place and a possible berth in the Division II West Regionals.

A couple of losses in its last five games and the only place this Northridge team will be going is into the school record book for hitting home runs. Even if the Matadors finish second in the CCAA there is a chance that Cal State Sacramento will receive the only at-large playoff bid tendered if it finishes with a better overall record. Sacramento, which has no conference affiliation, is 33-21.

Northridge, 33-18 overall, probably has a lock on the homer record. John Balfanz and Jim Vatcher each hit their 13th Friday and Tim Rapp connected for No. 7. For the season, the Matadors have 90--four shy of the school mark set in 1980.

For six innings, Balfanz’s fourth-inning drive over the fence in left-center was enough for Dan Penner (10-6). The senior right-hander had a perfect game for five innings and a shutout through six.

“For five innings he looked as good as any college pitcher I’d ever want to see,” Dominguez Hills Coach Andy Lopez said of Penner. “He just made a couple of mistakes.”

In the sixth, the Toros managed a single, a sampling of what was to come. Dominguez Hills erupted for four runs in the seventh and three more in the eighth.

Chris Plank opened the seventh by hitting a solo home run that curled just inside fair territory. Fred Hanker then singled to left and two outs later was safe at second when CSUN shortstop Chris Pinsak dropped a feed from second baseman Jimmy Mitchell on a bouncer up the middle. Mitchell made a nice play to backhand Joe Pardo’s grounder, but his across-the-body toss was bobbled by Pinsak, who tried to barehand it.

That brought up Eric Mihkelson, whose single had broken up Penner’s perfect game the previous inning. This time, Mihkelson hurt even more, hitting a 1-1 pitch over the fence in left-center to produce three runs. It was only his second homer of the season, his first in 45 games.

The Toros scored their three in the eighth on a two-base error by Mitchell, a bunt single by Plank, a throwing error by Balfanz, a sacrifice bunt by Rene Licon and singles by Hanker, Jeff Sears and Pardo.

“A few bad plays, a few hits and it fell apart,” said Penner later, slumped near his clubhouse cubicle. “I was out there a long time, but I wasn’t tired at all. Those extended innings sometimes affect your pitches, though.”

Aspray (9-3) also watched his defense let him down in the fifth, but managed to keep the Matadors from scoring. The Toros committed two errors in the inning, but Aspray stranded Northridge runners on second and third by inducing Vatcher to hit a soft fly to left with two out. Other than the home runs, the only other CSUN runner to reach second base was Chris Pinsak, who walked and stole second in the third inning.