Gilmore, Northridge Come Up Short After 3-Run Rally in Eighth

For Lenn Gilmore, it should have been a satisfying afternoon.

Gilmore singled Saturday to keep his 14-game hitting streak alive and drove in two runs for Cal State Northridge to give him 32 for the season.

But Gilmore also flied out to center field with two out in the ninth inning, leaving the tying run on third base as CSUN lost to visiting Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, 7-6, in a California Collegiate Athletic Assn. baseball game.

Trailing, 6-3, Northridge rallied in the eighth on home runs by Chae-Ho Chong and Mark Hebert. Chong blasted a drive to center, knocking in Gilmore who had singled, before Hebert tied the score, 6-6, with his third home run.

But San Luis Obispo regained the lead with a run in the ninth when Rick Nen smacked a leadoff triple to center and scored on Todd Rice’s sacrifice bunt to first.

CSUN’s Ted Weisfuss, who hit a leadoff single, moved to third on John Bonilla’s sacrifice bunt and Geoff Curtis’ fly to center. That gave Gilmore the chance to pick up his third RBI and send the game into extra innings, but his fly ball was not deep enough.

For Gilmore, the chance to tie the score was a welcome opportunity for a hitter who is leading Northridge in home runs (7) and RBIs.

“That’s my job,” Gilmore said. “That’s who we want up in that situation, either me or Chong. I just didn’t do the job.

“I wanted to hit a line drive in the gap or, if he kept it in, send it deep.”

The loss dropped Northridge, loser of four of its past five games, to 9-18, 1-2 in conference play.

A stoic Terry Craven said that early miscues hurt the Matadors.

“We gave away runs early and put ourselves in the position that we had to rally and we came up short,” the CSUN coach said.

San Luis Obispo starter Keith Chura held Northridge to three runs on eight hits before the Matadors chased him with their game-tying rally in the eighth. Reliever Erik Bratlien allowed two singles in picking up the win.

The Mustangs, who had lost eight of their past nine games, snapped a two-game losing streak in winning their first conference game. They improved to 12-14, 1-4.

San Luis Obispo jumped out to an early lead on a solo home run to right field by Rice.

The Matadors tied the score in their half of the inning. Bonilla lined a single to right, stole second and advanced to third on a Curtis fly out. Gilmore then knocked in his first run on a scoring fly to center.

Gilmore picked up his second RBI on his next at-bat. After Weisfuss and Bonilla singled, Gilmore hit a scoring grounder to first to give CSUN a 2-1 lead.

The Mustangs jumped ahead, 4-2, with three runs in the fourth. Rick Shepperd hit a run-scoring double and Doug Noce followed with a two-run home run over the left-field wall.

Starter Cary Snyder was rocked for two more runs in the fifth on three hits. Snyder (2-3), who is struggling with a 6.34 earned-run average, got out of the inning on a double play with the bases loaded.

Northridge had a chance to score in the sixth but came away empty. With two runners on base and nobody out, Mark Bowen grounded into a fielder’s choice and Hebert’s fly out was turned into an inning-ending double play.

The Matadors closed to within 6-3 in the seventh inning on Rusty McLain’s first home run of the season.

CSUN plays San Luis Obispo again today in the second game of a four-game home stand.