Northridge Hit Parade Marches On : Division II World Series: The Matadors wallop New Haven, 18-5, with a record-setting 26 hits.

Cal State Northridge’s record for most hits in an NCAA Division II World Series game didn’t last very long.

What the Matadors established with 23 hits in their opener Sunday they bettered by three Tuesday night.

The run total--18--was the same, however, leading some observers to speculate jokingly that Northridge could be in trouble should the tournament last, say, another 10 games or so.

Unfortunately for the rest of the championship field, it won’t be nearly that long.

Northridge’s 18-5 decision over New Haven in a second-round game at Paterson Field moved the Matadors within two games of a national championship.

Northridge and Jacksonville (Ala.) State are the only undefeated teams left in what was an eight-team field. The other four teams remaining each have one loss.

New Haven and Lewis University will play today at 1:30 p.m. PDT for the right to meet Northridge on Thursday. Should Northridge win that game--it has defeated each team by an identical score--the Matadors would move into the championship game Saturday at 2 p.m.

Top-seeded Jacksonville is in a similar position in the other bracket. The Gamecocks defeated Tampa, 10-8, in Tuesday’s early game.

In the nightcap, second-seeded Northridge (38-21) once again showed that hitting can be contagious.

There were several examples of the phenomenon, the best provided by Mike Sims, Northridge’s freshman catcher.

Sims, who batted .229 during the regular season, had five hits, a career high. To the best of his recollection, that includes Little League games.

Craig Clayton and Mike Solar each had four hits, while Denny Vigo and Kyle Washington each had three.

Solar, a lanky shortstop, showed that even CSUN’s lightweights are capable of being heavy hitters. He belted a three-run home run in the sixth, a solo shot in the seventh, and finished with a season-high six runs batted in.

“That seems to be the way runs come for us, in bunches,” Solar said. “I really don’t know what it is. It’s just one of those things, I guess.”

Solar, who had six home runs during the regular season, has three in CSUN’s two World Series games.

Northridge scored in all but the fourth and fifth innings. Included was a six-run sixth in which the Matadors had seven hits.

Lost in all this was a steady pitching performance turned in by right-hander Scott Sharts.

Sharts, showing no ill effects from a left groin muscle strain that he sustained Sunday, allowed eight hits, including three home runs.

Catcher Ron Perkins, the No. 8 batter in New Haven’s lineup, went three for three. He had solo homers in the third and eighth innings and a single in the fifth.

Sharts’ other nemesis was Joe Kohut, who batted after Perkins. Kohut had a single in the third and a two-run homer in the fifth.

Sharts could afford to joke about it later.

“Late in the game when I came up to hit I looked back (at Perkins) and said, ‘You just pretty much own me today.’ ”

New Haven (30-4) had few other highlights. As if Northridge needed any help, the Chargers contributed three errors to their demise.

“They just beat the hell out of us,” New Haven Coach Frank Vieira said. “Plus the fact we played some lousy baseball.”

After watching Northridge hammer fastballs in its opening-round win over Lewis, Vieira figured New Haven pitchers should try their luck with off-speed pitches.

“They did the job with that, too,” Vieira said. “This is by far the best-hitting team we’ve seen. One through nine, they can all hit.”

Indeed, Sims was batting ninth.

“We’re just hot,” Northridge Coach Bill Kernen said. “The one thing I’ve learned is to expect the unexpected in these situations. Strange things seem to happen in championship series.”

For Northridge, most have been good. With one notable exception.

After lining his third hit of the game off the base of the wall in left field, Vigo pulled up lame on his way to first base.

Kernen said that preliminary indications were that Vigo’s injury was a strain, not a tear.

Still, it appeared severe enough to end his season. The sophomore third baseman is second on the team with 19 home runs and third with 58 runs batted in.

Vigo was hitless in his previous 15 at-bats when he drove in Northridge’s first run with a single off the glove of New Haven third baseman Mike Tonucci.

He added a walk in the third, and another single in the fourth before his fateful blast off the fence.

Clayton and Andy Hodgins finished the game at third base with Washington, who took Vigo’s spot in the batting order, moving to right field.

Washington, a freshman who clouted a three-run homer in his only at bat against Lewis, had three singles in three appearances.

Notes

A compact disc player and CDs, two watches, a wallet containing money and credit cards, and a diamond earring were among property stolen during the game from Northridge players’ hotel rooms. . . . Mopping up in Northridge’s hit parade was freshman Eric Johnson, the only Matador to go without a hit. Johnson was hitless in six official appearances, but he still reached base on a walk, an error and a fielder’s choice. . . . Greg Shockey has reached base safely in 11 of his 13 World Series plate appearances. He singled twice and walked three times against New Haven. . . . Solar and Clayton are Northridge’s top postseason hitters. Solar is 12 for 21, including 7 for 10 in the championship tournament. Clayton is 11 for 22 overall, 7 for 11 in his last two games.

New Haven came in to Tuesday’s game having won five of its previous six World Series games. The loss was to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, 9-5, in last year’s Division II championship game. New Haven has a 69-42 record in NCAA tournament games. Only Florida Southern, with 94 victories, has more. Northridge has won 44.

In Tuesday’s early game, Jacksonville State scored five times in the first inning and was up, 8-0, before Tampa rallied in the middle innings to make a game of it.