CSUN Romps After Umpire Ejects Kernen in 1st Inning

Four batters into Cal State Northridge’s game at Cal State Dominguez Hills on Friday, Northridge Coach Bill Kernen already was fuming. A few minutes later, he was gone.

Kernen confronted home plate umpire Bob Bollinger in the top of the first inning, complaining that Toro pitcher Vincent Aguilar balked on several pickoff attempts to first base.

Bollinger, showing a quick trigger, ordered Kernen to watch the game from the stands.

“I don’t like to throw guys out,” Bollinger said. “This was only the second time I had to eject somebody in eight years, but the guy was all over me.”

Three previous Northridge-Dominguez Hills games this season were determined by one run, so the Matadors feared that they would need their leader. Those fears proved groundless after Northridge pounded out 15 hits and rapped the Toros, 10-3.

Northridge (24-14 overall and ranked seventh in Division II by Baseball America) won for the 12th time in 14 games and improved to 11-6 in California Collegiate Athletic Assn. play. CSUN remains in third place, two games behind conference-leading UC Riverside.

Dominguez Hills, dropping its third game in four tries and the second in two days to the Matadors, fell to 12-18-2 and 5-13 in conference play.

The teams play today at 1 p.m. at Northridge in their final meeting of the regular season.

Sophomore first baseman Scott Sharts blasted his 17th home run of the season and fourth against Dominguez Hills on a 400-foot solo shot to left-center field in the third inning to give the Matadors a 4-0 lead.

Sharts’ home run was only the third this season at Dominguez Hills’ field. Sharts moved into a tie for fifth place with Lenn Gilmore on the Northridge single-season home run list.

“I didn’t know if it was going out,” Sharts said of his homer. “At Northridge, it would have been gone. It’s a lot harder to hit home runs here.”

Eight Northridge players combined for 15 hits off three Dominguez Hills pitchers. Eric Johnson (two singles and a triple) and Mike Solar (three runs batted in) had three hits each, and Mike Sims and Andy Hodgins each had two. Denny Vigo, who hit a two-run home run Thursday to give the Matadors a 10-9 win over the Toros, also had two hits.

Northridge starter Craig Clayton (9-3) picked up the win, allowing two runs and seven hits in eight innings before giving way to reliever Eric Spellman.

Northridge built a 3-0 lead in the third inning and never trailed thereafter. Solar knocked in two runs on a bases-loaded single up the middle, and Sims squeezed home another.

The Matadors picked up three more runs in the fourth. Sharts hit a leadoff homer, and Greg Shockey walked and then scored on Johnson’s triple. Solar scored Johnson with a sacrifice fly.

Northridge pushed across single runs in the fifth and sixth, before Dominguez Hills broke up Clayton’s shutout bid with two runs in the bottom of sixth, aided by a throwing error by Vigo.