Sharts Blasts 3 Home Runs to Lead CSUN Win

With his team struggling to score against NCAA Division I opponents, Scott Sharts of Cal State Northridge decided to take matters into his own hands. So he hit three home runs and collected seven runs batted in to help Northridge beat United States International University, 9-1, Saturday in a nonconference baseball game at Matador Field.

“It’s something I’ll always remember,” Sharts said of his second three-homer game this season. “But I’m more happy with coming away with a victory. We really needed this win and to score some runs.”

The Matadors snapped a two-game losing streak and improved their record to 4-5 against Division I opponents and 13-12 overall. USIU is 8-15-1.

Sharts went nine games without a home run since he last hit three in a game against Cal State Dominguez Hills on Feb. 23.

Sharts ended that drought with a solo shot in the first inning of Friday’s 11-2 loss to UC Irvine.

“I wasn’t in a slump because I was hitting the ball,” Sharts said. “It’s just that very few were falling for extra-base hits. I don’t look to hit home runs, but I’m that type of hitter.”

Sharts’ first hit Saturday was a single to left in the first inning off losing pitcher Mike Whisonant (2-6).

Sharts unloaded on the first pitch to him in third inning, driving a three-run home run halfway up a large pine tree 30 feet beyond the left-field wall.

“He threw a split-finger fastball that dropped in my (power) zone,” Sharts said. “I was looking for something to drive there.”

Whisonant struck out Sharts in the fifth inning on a high fastball and tried to throw four more by him in the seventh, but that proved to be one too many. Sharts hit the last about 400 feet for a solo home run.

In the eighth, Whisonant tried to throw another fastball past Sharts; this one ended up on the adjoining softball field about 450 feet away for another three-run home run.

It was Sharts’ 13th home run and moved him one ahead of former Northridge Coach Terry Craven into 10th place on the school’s all-time single-season list. Rondal Rollin set the standard with 24 in 1980 and Sharts has 28 games left to surpass that mark.

Rollin also shares the record for home runs in a game, three, first set in 1980. Sharts’ seven RBIs were one short of the single-game mark set by John Balfanz in 1988.

Sharts was not the only hitting star, though. Denny Vigo went three for four and has 11 hits in his past five games.

Northridge Coach Bill Kernen compared Sharts to Tim Wallach of the Montreal Expos, whom Kernen coached at Cal State Fullerton.

“In terms of power, he can hit the ball as far as Wallach or any other player I’ve coached,” Kernen said. “Guys in that mold can hit the ball 10 miles and it doesn’t matter what park they play in.”

Sharts, who transferred from Miami after last season, also was supposed to pitch for CSUN, but he has been limited to one start because of tendinitis in his right (throwing) arm.

Taking his place in the rotation, freshman John Bushart (2-0) continues to improve as the Matadors’ third starter. Bushart threw a six-hitter Saturday for his first complete game.