CSUN Surprises Top-Ranked USC in Baseball Opener

One down, a season to go.

With an eye toward 1991, when it will move up to Division I, the Cal State Northridge baseball team took a giant step toward full-fledged legitimacy Tuesday by defeating top-ranked USC, 4-3, at Dedeaux Field in the opener for both teams.

It marked the second consecutive season in which Northridge, ranked seventh in Division II, has beaten the Trojans on their home field. Last year, left-hander Fili Martinez pitched a four-hitter in a 4-1 CSUN victory.

Senior right-hander Vale Lopez and sophomore first baseman Scott Sharts provided the key performances for Northridge as the Matadors knocked off the 11-time national champion Trojans, ranked No. 1 by Baseball America magazine in a preseason poll.

Lopez pitched a complete game, scattering 11 hits, striking out four and walking only one. He also helped himself by making the play on two difficult bunts that might have swung the momentum to the Trojans’ side.

“I wasn’t dwelling on them being No. 1,” said Lopez, who was 6-9 with a 4.15 earned-run average last season. “I was trying to get ahead with my curveball, then work my change. They started getting on me so I had to change it around.”

Sharts, a 6-foot-6, 221-pound right-hand hitter who was the Southern Section career home run leader when he played at Simi Valley High, had struck out three times against right-handed starter Randy Powers before he blasted a two-run homer off left-hander John Cummings in the eighth inning to give Northridge its margin of victory.

“I had been swinging at bad pitches all day,” said Sharts, who transferred to Northridge last summer from the University of Miami. “They were toying with me, throwing balls out of the zone.

“He (Cummings) threw me a fastball and that’s what I was waiting for the whole game.”

Sharts was not the only Matador newcomer who contributed to the win.

Freshman catcher Mike Sims had three hits, including a leadoff double in the third inning that helped produce the Matadors’ first run. Sims moved to third when USC catcher Danny Gil threw wildly to first in an effort to get Andy Hodgins, who had struck out on a ball in the dirt. Sims then scored when Craig Clayton grounded into a double play.

Three Northridge freshmen were instrumental in scoring the Matadors’ second run in the fourth. Designated-hitter Eric Johnson singled with one out, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by second baseman Scott Richardson and came home on a single by left fielder Kyle Washington.

USC cut the margin to 2-1 in the fifth on a double by Mark Smith and a run-scoring single by Murph Proctor.

The Trojans went ahead in the sixth on a two-run homer to right by Damon Buford.

The one-run lead looked like it would be more than enough for Powers, a senior who was selected All-Pacific 10 Conference last season. Powers recorded two quick outs in the seventh before Sims and Hodgins reached base on consecutive singles.

Despite recording a career-high 11 strikeouts, Powers was replaced by Cummings, who induced Clayton to foul out to right to end the inning.

The pitching change looked like a good move until Sharts belted his game-winning homer.

USC threatened in the eighth when Jay Robertson and Jeff Cirillo led off with singles. Lopez, however, quashed the rally by fielding a bunt by Sam Vranjes and throwing Robertson out at third. He struck out Buford and Billy Morris to end the inning.

Lopez retired the Trojans in order in the ninth, striking out Bret Boone, USC’s consensus All-American second baseman, to end the game.

“He (Lopez) was sensational,” USC Coach Mike Gillespie said.