BASEBALL / NCAA DIVISION II FINAL : Northridge Is Hoping to Go Out With a Bang

Cal State Northridge, a baseball team building for tomorrow, will try to become national champion today.

Northridge will field a team of five freshmen and four sophomores against Jacksonville State of Alabama at noon (PDT) in the NCAA Division II championship game at Paterson Field.

The game will mark the end of an era for a school that has been a Division II power in most men’s and women’s sports.

Beginning next fall, Northridge will play on the Division I level in every sport but football.

Preparing Northridge to move up was Coach Bill Kernen’s top priority when he took over the Matador program two years ago.

“We’re not trying to win a Division II championship,” Kernen said shortly after he was hired in 1988. “We’re building toward a Division I championship someday.”

Progress has been made more quickly than expected.

After a 12-12 start, Northridge rolled through the season’s second half and is 39-21.

Since rallying from three runs down to defeat Cal State Dominguez Hills, 10-9, on April 12, the Matadors have won 17 of 21 games against Division II opposition.

Thursday, they rallied against Lewis University of Lockport, Ill., using an eight-run eighth inning for an 8-6 victory.

Scott Sharts’ 28th home run of the season, a three-run blast, gave Northridge the victory.

Kernen, an assistant at Cal State Fullerton when the Titans won a Division I championship in 1979, said he’s never been around a young team that responded so well.

“Every championship team I’ve been around has that quality about them,” Kernen said. “They know there’s a certain time to bear down and find a way to win. But most of them were veteran teams that took a few years to develop the knack.

“For this team to accomplish what it has so early is pretty extraordinary.”

Sharts, a transfer from Miami, helped. The 6-foot-6, 240-pound sophomore from Simi Valley High is the top power hitter in Division II and is also productive on the mound. He will take a 6-2 record into today’s title game.

Jacksonville (42-9) is expected to counter with Todd Altaffer, a 6-3 left-hander who is 11-3 with a 1.82 earned-run average.