Clayton, Sharts Give San Diego the Old 1-2 : College baseball: One pitches a two-hitter, the other hits two home runs as CSUN romps to a 14-1 win.

Cal State Northridge first baseman-pitcher Scott Sharts, he of the prodigious blasts and prolific casts, long has been considered the team’s arm and hammer, if not its big bopper and big stopper.

Old news, old nicknames.

Craig Clayton, who does double duty as a pitcher and outfielder--but seems to consistently do so while standing in Sharts’ rather large shadow--probably deserves a catchy moniker as well.

Consider that Clayton leads Northridge starters in earned-run average and the team in hits, runs scored and batting average. He also has hit safely in 11 consecutive games.

So for nickname nominations, how about The Combination? Even Sharts says it is a lock that Clayton is the key to the team.

“He’s the key to the whole lineup,” Sharts said. “Craig’s the type of guy who can take control whenever he wants.”

In Saturday’s nonconference game against the University of San Diego, both double-threat players took control--and whatever else they wanted--as Northridge buried the Toreros, 14-1.

Sharts slammed two home runs for the third time this season, giving him 13 in 20 games and 42 in his 1 1/2-year Matador career. That pulled him into a tie with John Balfanz on the school’s career homer list. Balfanz, whom Sharts watched play as a Simi Valley High schoolboy, hit his 42nd home run in 1987.

As for Clayton, he needs better timing. The junior right-hander threw a two-hitter, did not allow an earned run and struck out a career-high 12 batters, which tied the season high for Matador pitchers.

Every time Sharts seemed primed to swipe the game’s spotlight, Clayton (3-2) answered with some heroics of his own.

For openers, Sharts slammed a three-run homer in the first inning off 6-7 right-hander James Ferguson (1-3), who hit the first two Northridge batters.

Leading, 3-0, in the fourth, Northridge (14-6) added four more runs. With the bases loaded and one out, Clayton sent a line drive to right that Dan McAdoo, a Faith Baptist High product, dropped for an error. Clayton was given an RBI, however. Scott Richardson followed with a three-run double, driving Ferguson from the game and giving Northridge a 7-0 lead.

By then, Clayton was cruising on the mound. He allowed an opposite-field, looping single to Rick Doane in the first inning, then retired seven of the next eight batters--the lone baserunner was safe on an infield error. San Diego (8-8-1) scored an unearned run in the top of the sixth when shortstop Mike Solar threw away a ground ball for a two-base error.

Sharts stepped back to the fore in the bottom of the inning. After Clayton singled to open the sixth, Sharts’ slammed a 400-foot shot over the barrier in left-center for a 9-1 lead. The San Diego left and center fielders, who evidently sensed imminent doom, were stationed a step shy of the warning track as Sharts stepped in.

“Before I even swung, he was at the track,” an amused Sharts said of the Torero center fielder, who climbed halfway up the wall as the ball sailed over. “I thought, ‘Man, this yard’s not that small.’ ”

Clayton answered with a solo home run in the seventh, his first of the season. In the eighth, Clayton just missed matching Sharts’ two-homer performance when he launched a three-run double off the top of the wall in right-center.

In the ninth, San Diego managed to nick Clayton once more when freshman Mike Henry sent a leadoff dribbler up the middle that Solar was unable to field on a do-or-die play near second. After deliberation, it was scored a hit. Clayton struck out Josh Stepner to end the game.

For CSUN Coach Bill Kernen, the plurality of duality does not go unnoticed.

“Those two guys are our two players in one,” Kernen said of Sharts and Clayton, both of whom finished with five RBIs. “It’s an extremely difficult role to pitch one day, then play the field or DH the next.

“It’s obviously difficult physically, it’s difficult mentally. They are both outstanding in both roles.”