NCAA DIVISION II BASEBALL TOURNAMENT : CSUN Pounds Lewis in Opener : Record: Matadors set tournament mark with 23 hits--four of them home runs--in 18-5 victory.

Pitcher Rick Huisman of Lewis (Ill.) University was, indeed, a player to watch Sunday. But not for the expected reasons.

Cal State Northridge pounded him for nine hits and eight runs in 2 2/3 innings on the way to an 18-5 win over Lewis in a first-round game of the NCAA Division II World Series at Paterson Field.

Northridge (37-21) will meet New Haven in a second-round game on Tuesday at 7 CST. New Haven defeated Columbus, Ga., 15-4, in Sunday’s second game.

Huisman, a junior right-hander, entered the game with a reputation as one of the nation’s top pitchers. His 155 strikeouts in 107 innings was testimony to his live arm. However, in his short stint against Northridge, Huisman instigated more action than he wanted to see.

By the time the third inning was over, the dozen or so professional scouts in attendance had tucked away their radar guns. Perhaps the only person still concentrating on Huisman--with the exception of CSUN hitters--was Matador pitcher Vale Lopez.

Lopez, a wet towel draped over his head to ward off the heat and humidity, was sitting in a hallway adjacent to the Northridge dugout. From that vantage point, he could see only the mound.

So he watched Huisman’s facial expressions in an effort to track the success of Northridge hitters.

He witnessed some excruciatingly painful looks.

“Based on his reaction, I could tell how things were going,” Lopez said.

In fact, it was going worse than it had for any pitcher--or pitchers--in the 23-year history of the Division II national championships. Northridge finished with a tournament-record 23 hits, including four home runs.

Center fielder Greg Shockey sparked the Matador attack by reaching base in all six of his plate appearances. Shockey had two doubles, two singles, two walks, scored three runs and afterward questioned the accuracy of reports that Huisman possessed a 92-m. p. h. fastball.

“We were anxious to hit him because you’re always anxious to see what you can do against the best,” Shockey said. “But to tell you the truth, he didn’t throw very hard.”

Craig Clayton, Eric Johnson, Mike Solar, Scott Richardson and Andy Hodgins all added three hits apiece for Northridge, which had a previous season high of 20 hits against UC Santa Barbara in April.

Solar, Scott Sharts, Johnson and Kyle Washington accounted for CSUN’s home runs. Solar and Sharts each hit two-run homers in the third inning, when the Matadors scored six times.

Sharts’ homer, his 27th of the season, was a prodigious blast that landed in a garden of ivy more than 50 feet up an embankment behind the 380-foot sign in straightaway center field.

“That ball was hit about as hard as it could be hit,” CSUN Coach Bill Kernen said. “There’s only so far you can hit a ball and that one about reached it.”

Washington, batting in Sharts’ spot in the eighth inning after Sharts left with a muscle twinge in his groin, added a three-run homer to left in his only at-bat.

Third baseman Denny Vigo was the only Northridge starter to go without a hit. Vigo struck out three times in six at-bats and is 1 for 17 in CSUN’s four playoff games.

Lopez (11-4), a senior, pitched eight innings to earn his eighth consecutive victory. Freshman John Bushart finished up, allowing two runs on two hits and three walks in the ninth inning.

Lewis had 13 hits as the teams combined for a tournament-record 36 hits in the game.