Loss to UC Davis Backs Northridge Against the Wall--Again

The Cal State Northridge baseball team isn’t where it wants to be. But based on past performance, the Matadors just might be where they need to be.

After a 13-5 drubbing at the hands of UC Davis on Friday afternoon at Matador Field, Northridge is a loss away from elimination in the NCAA Division II West regional.

This scenario should sound at least remotely familiar.

Just last week, with its back to the wall, CSUN delivered three consecutive wins over Cal State Los Angeles to earn a share of the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. title and an automatic playoff berth.

This time, the Matadors need only to win two, the first of which will have to come against UC Riverside when the double-elimination regional resumes today at noon.

Riverside (38-16) scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth to nip Davis, 12-11, in Friday’s first game.

Today’s game will mark the sixth meeting of the season between the Matadors and Highlanders, who shared the CCAA championship, and Northridge (34-21) has won the past three.

A Riverside victory today would end Northridge’s season. But if CSUN wins, Riverside and Davis will play 45 minutes after the conclusion of today’s first game, with the winner meeting Northridge in the regional title game Sunday at 1 p.m.

Should CSUN beat Riverside in today’s first game, all three teams would have 1-1 records. Northridge would receive a bye in the second game by virtue of its victory in a three-way coin toss Thursday night.

“If you want to look at a silver lining, we only have to win two games now instead of three,” Northridge Coach Bill Kernen said.

Seventh-ranked Davis (29-25), co-champion of the Northern California Athletic Conference, pounded CSUN starter Craig Clayton for 11 hits, including three each by Warren Buck and Jai Khanna.

Buck hit his fourth home run of the season in the fifth inning and doubled in another run when Davis blew the game open with six runs in the seventh.

Khanna made a couple of nifty plays at third base in addition to reaching base in all four plate appearances. He had three singles, scored three runs, and walked in the seventh to force in a run.

Northridge had 12 hits, including three by Clayton, but the Matadors didn’t get to starter Dave Swartz until it was too late. Davis led, 13-1, by the time CSUN scored four times in the eighth.

Swartz (7-3), a hefty 6-foot-3 right-hander, finally was relieved by Kevin Grindy with two out in the eighth. Grindy struck out the last four batters.

Clayton and CSUN reliever Todd Denhart were both hit hard in the seventh, but the Matadors might have found a stopper in their third pitcher, freshman John Bushart, should there be a next time against the Aggies.

Bushart, a lanky left-hander, retired the last four batters in order, striking out three. The Aggies have had trouble scoring against left-handers all season but had no such trouble against the five right-handers they faced Friday, collecting 27 hits in two games.

Riverside’s winning run against Davis scored on a throwing error by second baseman Bobby Rounsaville. The Highlanders did all their scoring with two out.

Logan Ostrander trimmed Davis’ lead to 11-10 with a double down the left-field line that scored Matt Davis and moved Pete Weber to third.

With Scott Hayward, a senior from Notre Dame High, up next, Andrew Craig came on in relief of Davis starter Rudy Taub. Craig got two quick strikes, but Hayward grounded the next pitch to the right of Rounsaville, who made a backhanded stop but felt he had no play at first base.

Weber scored from third to tie the score, 11-11, and Ostrander came sprinting around third, hoping to score if Rounsaville threw to first. When the second baseman held onto the ball, Ostrander paused momentarily, then broke for the plate.

Rounsaville’s throw reached the plate in plenty of time for the out, but it was far above the head of catcher Steve Klaus and went to the screen.

Riverside would have needed more than three runs in the final inning had it not been for a controversial call in the second inning.

With runners at first and second and no one out, Mark Saugstad of UCR hit a line drive that Rounsaville couldn’t handle on the fly. He knocked it down, though, and threw to second to get a force out.

Meanwhile, Chad Townsend, the runner who had been on second, froze, thinking that the ball was going to be caught. When it wasn’t and the force was recorded at second, Townsend returned to the base instead of trying for third. Jim Reiley, the Davis shortstop, tagged Townsend, then threw to first, completing what he thought was a rather unorthodox triple play.

But the play faked out the umpires. Neither Bob Billinger at first nor Gil Perez at second saw Reiley make the tag. And while they were trying to determine what had happened on that end of the play, neither saw the throw to first beat Saugstad. Instead of turning a triple play, Davis was credited with only one out and Riverside went on to score five runs in the inning, opening a 7-1 lead.