CSUN Edges CS Los Angeles, 11-10 : Weisfuss’ Big Hit Succeeds Where Attempts at Little Ones Fail

Ted Weisfuss was in trouble.

With runners on first and second and nobody out in the bottom of the ninth inning Saturday, his Cal State Northridge team trailed Cal State Los Angeles by a run. Weisfuss fouled off a sacrifice bunt attempt that sailed back to the screen behind home plate at Matador Field.

On the next pitch, Weisfuss popped another bunt attempt directly behind home plate where only a slow-footed umpire who couldn’t get out of the catcher’s way saved an out.

Thus reprieved, Weisfuss ran the count to 3-2 before drilling an Abdom Pinon fastball into the left-center-field gap for a double that drove in the winning run in Northridge’s dramatic 11-10 California Collegiate Athletic Assn. victory.

Northridge improved to 15-9-1 overall, 6-6-1 in conference play. Cal State L. A. dropped to 14-19, 4-7.

“Part of my game is bunting but I didn’t do it,” said Weisfuss, a senior utility player who has delivered in the clutch several times this season. “I just had a bad day at the plate. After I brutalized those first two pitches, I was just trying to put the ball in play.”

Northridge and Cal State L. A. had trouble playing little ball all day but more than made up for that with the long ball.

Both teams hit four home runs and took advantage of the sunny, breezy conditions with a performance that evoked memories of just how awesome a slugfest can become in the launching pad that is Matador Field.

“I’ve heard about this,” Northridge Coach Bill Kernen said after his first encounter with the phenomenon. “I don’t like it very much. I’m glad I’m not a pitcher here.”

Northridge pitcher Robert Wheatcroft, however, was fairly happy after pitching 7 1/3 innings in relief of starter Vale Lopez to earn the win and improve to 7-2.

Wheatcroft, a senior, knows all too well about the havoc wreaked by the long ball.

By surrendering three homers Saturday, including two in the eighth inning--to Ed Pimental and Rex De la Nuez--that allowed Cal State L. A. to increase its lead to 10-7, Wheatcroft has allowed 14 homers this season and 10 in just 32 1/3 innings of CCAA play.

“I’m a fly-ball pitcher,” Wheatcroft joked. “This park can’t hold me.”

Neither could it contain Northridge designated-hitter Chae-Ho Chong, who hit his fourth home run of the season, freshman Greg Shockey and senior Anton Siegl, who hit back-to-back homers in the fourth inning, or sophomore Randy Thompson.

Northridge trailed, 10-9, when Pinon surrendered a single to Siegl, then walked pinch-hitter Kevin Ogle to open the bottom of the ninth.

That set the stage for Weisfuss, who drove in Siegl and pinch-runner Fili Martinez with his line drive into the gap.