CS Northridge’s Sharts Throws USC a Curve in Complete-Game Victory : College baseball: Pitcher mixes a biting breaking ball with a fastball to stop Trojans, 6-3.

USC made no attempt to hide its strategy against Cal State Northridge right-hander Scott Sharts on Thursday.

From the mound, Sharts heard orders come directly from USC Coach Mike Gillespie. In a rather loud voice Gillespie advised Trojan hitters to “lay off the breaking stuff until he proves it.”

Unfortunately for USC, Sharts proceeded to do just that, fashioning a complete-game six-hitter as Northridge defeated the 11th-ranked Trojans, 6-3, before a crowd of 617 at Matador Field.

With his fastball nipping at the corners of the plate, Sharts found enough of a breaking ball in the middle innings to keep the Trojans teetering.

“After the third inning he found his groove with his breaking ball and after that he was very effective in terms of keeping guys off-balance,” Gillespie said.

The victory, Sharts’ second of the season without a loss, was made extra sweet because it came against USC. Before transferring to Northridge from Miami two seasons ago, Sharts talked to Gillespie about playing for the Trojans, but USC would not offer him a scholarship.

“It’s always a little personal thing when we play them,” Sharts said. “I use a lot of things to pump me up before a game and that added a little incentive.”

Northridge (6-2) has beaten the Trojans in four consecutive games dating to the 1988 season. USC (6-3) will play host to CSUN at Dedeaux Field today at 2:30 p.m. and again Saturday at 1 p.m.

The Matadors, ranked 23rd in one preseason poll, parlayed a walk, four doubles and two USC errors into a decisive five-run seventh inning.

USC was leading, 3-1, and starter Jackie Nickell had allowed only a third-inning single by Craig Clayton entering the seventh. But CSUN’s Mike Sims led off by smashing a changeup down the third-base line for a double.

One out later, Eric Johnson’s double to right-center field scored Sims. After pinch-hitter Kyle Washington fouled out, Clayton went to the opposite field with the first pitch, doubling just inside the right-field line to score Johnson, tying the score, 3-3, and chasing Nickell.

Dan Hubbs came on for USC and immediately moved Clayton to third by tossing a pickoff attempt into center field.

Greg Shockey, the next hitter, grounded the ball to shortstop Billy Morris, who mishandled it for an error as Clayton scored the go-ahead run.

After Shockey took second on a wild pitch, Gillespie ordered Hubbs to walk Sharts intentionally to get to cleanup hitter Denny Vigo, hitless with two strikeouts in his first three at-bats.

Vigo brought a .152 batting average to the plate, but he drove a full-count slider from Hubbs into right-center field, just past the glove of a diving Mark Smith, USC’s center fielder. Shockey and Sharts both scored, putting CSUN up by three.

Gillespie said Vigo hit a good pitch. “That wasn’t a mistake,” he said. “Just maybe one too many sliders.”

Only one of Northridge’s runs in the inning was earned.

Sharts, who required 132 pitches in his first complete game of the season, faced only one batter over the minimum in the final three innings. He struck out four, walked four and hit a batter while managing to erase lingering memories of his previous outing, in which Northridge blew a nine-run lead and lost to Nevada Las Vegas.

“We figure the guy we saw today is who he really is,” CSUN Coach Bill Kernen said. “That’s what we expect from him.”

USC pushed over two unearned runs in the third inning on back-to-back run-scoring singles by Jeff Cirillo and Smith.

Northridge trimmed the Trojans’ advantage to a run on an error, Clayton’s single and a ground out by Sharts in the bottom half of the inning. USC made it 3-1 in the fifth when Murph Proctor doubled, took third on an out and scored on a wild pitch.