CSUN Wastes Chances in 6-3 Defeat at USC

Bill Kernen said he is not a card player, but he could not resist an analogy after watching the Cal State Northridge baseball team strand 11 baserunners in a 6-3 loss to USC on Friday at Dedeaux Field.

“It’s like playing a card game and you have a full house and fold and the other guy has two pair,” CSUN’s third-year coach said. “You’re just embarrassed.”

That a card player would never fold with a full house obviously did not occur to Kernen. Then again, the prospect of Northridge twice leaving the bases loaded--in the seventh and ninth innings--probably seemed rather unlikely too.

At least before Friday it did. The Matadors, who came in batting .351 with runners in scoring position, went one for 11 in such situations.

“The whole story . . . was missed opportunities,” Kernen said after a half-hour postgame meeting with his team in right field.

The opposite was true of USC, which improved to 7-3 and broke a four-game losing streak against CSUN that started in 1988. The Trojans were outhit, 9-7, but made the most of what was presented them.

USC broke a 3-3 tie with a three-run fifth inning. Two of the runs were made possible because of a throwing error by second baseman Scott Richardson.

With two out and a run across on a squeeze bunt by Casey Burrill, Mike Robertson hit a ground ball that Richardson fielded cleanly before making a casual throw to first base.

Richardson’s throw was up the first-base line and Robertson slid around Eric Johnson’s attempt at a swipe tag. Mark Smith scored from third and Brett Jenkins came all the way around from second.

“It was a four-run game for them,” Kernen said. “We gave them two because we couldn’t throw a ball 50 feet to first base. Four runs with our kind of offense should be no problem when you have that many men on base.”

But it was. Trojan pitchers Eric Hughes and Jeff Cirillo doused three rallies in the last five innings.

Northridge (6-3) launched its biggest uprising in the ninth, loading the bases with none out on two walks and an error by Lionel Hastings, USC’s shortstop.

Coming up empty only made the Matadors’ frustration complete. Cirillo, a senior from Providence High, struck out Scott Sharts on a hanging slider for the first out. Denny Vigo then popped up to bring on Mike Solar, who was zero for eight in two games against the Trojans.

Solar smashed Cirillo’s two-ball, one-strike offering, but Jenkins, USC’s second baseman, made a leaping grab for the final out.

Hughes picked up his second victory without a loss with four innings of middle relief. He came on with two runners on and none out in the fifth to strike out Vigo and induce Solar to hit into a double play.

He also worked out of a jam in the seventh, striking out Sharts with one out and two runners on, then, after loading the bases with a walk, striking out Solar.

“That inning was probably the biggest of the game,” Hughes said. “There was a total momentum switch after that. Northridge is scrappy and once you’ve got them down, you have to keep them down.”

Sharts gave Northridge a 2-0 lead in the first inning with a drive over the 395-foot sign in center field. His fifth home run of the season came on the heels of a walk to Greg Shockey.

The teams will conclude a three-game series at 1 p.m. today at Dedeaux Field.