A Command Performance Sparks CSUN

Vale Lopez was on.

On stage. On, period.

Between pitches, he was howling, growling, tugging at the bill of his cap and pulling his belt up to his chest in an animated display worthy of a Disney cartoon.

His was a collegiate career not willing to end.

Lopez knew that one false slider could mean the end of Cal State Northridge’s baseball season. Being a senior pitcher sans 90 m.p.h. velocity, it also might mean the end of him.

What better time to break loose with the performance of a lifetime?

Behind Lopez’s seven-hit pitching, Northridge defeated UC Riverside, 4-1, Saturday at Matador Field to advance to the championship game of the NCAA Division II West regional.

The Matadors (35-21) will be seeking their fifth consecutive victory against Riverside in today’s 1 p.m. title game at CSUN. At stake is a berth in the Division II World Series, an eight-team, double-elimination tournament that will begin Saturday in Montgomery, Ala.

Riverside (39-17) reached the title game by pushing over a run in the bottom of the ninth inning to defeat UC Davis, 8-7, in Saturday’s second game. It was the Highlanders’ second one-run win over the Aggies in as many days.

Northridge and Riverside, co-champions of the California Collegiate Athletic Assn., have met six times this season with CSUN winning the past four.

Lopez has two of those victories. Saturday’s was a lot less messy than the previous win over the Highlanders, a 12-10 decision in which he pitched 8 2/3 innings.

The right-hander from Oxnard allowed seven singles and struck out seven while walking five as CSUN staved off elimination after being defeated by UC Davis, 13-5, Friday.

“Vale has a prizefighter’s mentality,” CSUN Coach Bill Kernen said. “When he’s up against the ropes, it’s like something inside of him hits a switch.”

Lopez (10-4) said his seventh win in a row was rather typical considering the circumstances.

“Everything was on my shoulders today, which is great,” he said. “That’s the way I want it every time. This was like my championship game.”

Lopez allowed only one hit through four innings, a soft liner by Matt Davis that landed just beyond the reach of shortstop Mike Solar.

Lopez’s only obvious mistake--a hanging slider on a two-strike pitch--cost him a shutout.

Riverside’s Scott Hayward, a senior from Notre Dame High, singled home Davis in the eighth inning when Lopez was forced to pitch out of his only real jam.

After Davis scored, an error by Solar loaded the bases, but Lopez struck out Troy Percival to end the inning.

Riverside offered a mild challenge in the ninth on one-out singles by Scott Einhorn and Davis, but CSUN left fielder Craig Clayton made a running catch of Pete Weber’s warning-track fly ball and Lopez got Ruben Ayala on a grounder to Solar for the last out.

“It was us today,” Lopez said afterward. “When we’re between a rock and a hard place, it’s the other guys that are in trouble. Problem is, Riverside is the same way.”

Northridge scored all the runs it needed in the fourth inning on a two-run single by Mike Sims, a .227-hitting catcher.

A more reliable source accounted for two more runs in the fifth.

After Greg Shockey walked to lead off the inning, first baseman Scott Sharts, batting .303, cracked his 25th home run of the season.

Sharts’ blast, which landed well beyond the left-field wall, moved him past Rondal Rollin on CSUN’s single-season list. Rollin hit 24 homers for Northridge in 1980. Sharts has 65 runs batted in this season, the fourth-highest total by a Matador player.

However, any future hitting records can wait.

Sharts, who has won four of six decisions, will be on the mound against Riverside in today’s title game.

Lopez is the only pitcher Riverside has not solved in the regional so far.

The Highlanders battered Davis pitchers for 24 hits, including eight for extra bases, in two games.

Percival, who struck out in a key situation against Lopez, redeemed himself in Saturday’s second game by getting three hits, driving in three runs and scoring two more.

Riverside’s junior catcher also ignited the Highlanders’ ninth-inning rally with a leadoff single.

Jim Radler, pinch-running for Percival, carried home the winning run on a sacrifice fly to right by Davis after Riverside loaded the bases with none out.

Steve Green (5-0) picked up the victory for Riverside with 1 2/3 innings of hitless relief. Matt Moore (5-2) took the loss for UC Davis.

UC Davis finished the season 29-25 and failed in its bid to become the first team from the Northern California Athletic Conference to win a West regional title.