Northridge Three Wins From Title : Baseball: Matadors seek co-championship of CCAA, playoff berth in Cal State L.A. series.

Before the dust finally settles in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. baseball race, Cal State Northridge would like to make one last sweep.

Should Northridge give Cal State Los Angeles the brushoff in a three-game series beginning this afternoon at 3, the Matadors would be CCAA co-champions and would earn an automatic berth in the NCAA Division II playoffs as the conference’s top-seeded team.

Los Angeles (19-33, 9-18 in CCAA play) is the host for today’s game and Saturday’s contest at 7:30 p.m. The Golden Eagles will visit Northridge for Friday’s game at 3 p.m.

Northridge (31-20, 18-9) enters the series tied with UC Riverside in losses, but the Highlanders (37-16, 21-9) already have completed their conference schedule.

If the teams finish with identical conference records, they would be declared co-champions. Northridge would be the conference’s top-seeded playoff team, however, by virtue of its 3-2 edge over Riverside in head-to-head competition this season.

“It’s an exciting time,” said Bill Kernen, Northridge’s second-year coach. “Ninety-eight percent of the teams out there are figuring out what they’re going to do for the summer. We’re playing for a championship.”

Northridge, ranked ninth in NCAA Division II, needs to win at least two games against Los Angeles to secure second place and be in position to claim a berth in the Division II regionals next week. If Northridge loses more than one game, 18th-ranked Chapman (31-19, 17-10) could slip past the Matadors into second place by sweeping its three-game series with Cal Poly Pomona.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s three-game sweep of Northridge last weekend caused the conference race to come down to the final three games. The Matadors had won 19 of their previous 23 games before that series.

“It certainly woke us up in terms of knowing that we have to do more than just show up to win baseball games,” Kernen said. “It didn’t knock us out. It was more like a splash of cold water in our face.”

Northridge pitchers were hammered for 39 hits by San Luis Obispo and the Matadors committed nine errors.

CSUN also lost center fielder Greg Shockey to injury.

Shockey, second on the team with a .321 batting average, strained ligaments and tendons in his right shoulder when he slid into the fence after diving for a line drive in Saturday’s game at San Luis Obispo. Kernen said Shockey will miss this weekend’s series and will be examined again next week.