CSUN Wins, 10-7, Despite 6 Errors

It was just another typical day at the ballpark for the Cal State Northridge baseball team, which committed more errors than Craig Clayton, its pitcher, gave up hits and saw Scott Sharts, its most productive hitter, strike out four times.

Typical because the Matadors managed to win anyway, 10-7, over Virginia Tech during the opening round of pool play in the 13th annual Fresno Tournament.

And who should have the decisive hit? Why, Sharts, of course. As it turned out, his fifth at-bat was the charm.

Sharts’ 15th home run of the season, a three-run job in the eighth inning, gave Northridge its first lead of the day, 8-6. Give an assist to a stiff breeze blowing in the same direction as the ball that Sharts lifted almost as high as it was long.

In his previous four at-bats, Sharts had been neatly tied into a knot by a mixture of inside breaking balls and outside fastballs thrown by Virginia Tech starter Brad Clontz.

“I knew he’d hang a breaking ball one of those times,” Sharts said. “I just had to stay with it.”

So, too, did Clayton, who survived a season-high six errors by Matador defenders. (We use the term literally and figuratively).

“It gets hard, but I tried to just block the errors out,” said Clayton, who improved his record to 4-2 with a four-hit complete game. “I’ve learned to stay confident and just keep trying to throw up ground balls.”

Northridge (16-7-1) was down 4-0 after one inning although Clayton had allowed only one hit. Two walks, two errors and Clayton’s own balk helped Virginia Tech’s inning along.

The Matadors got one back in the fourth on a run-scoring single by Mike Solar, then made a game of it with a three-run sixth inning.

David Prosenko, who came in batting .231, scored Eric Johnson with a single, and Clayton followed with a two-run triple off the wall in center to tie the score, 4-4. Both hits came with two outs, and Clayton’s extended his hitting streak to 15 games. He later added a single and another run-scoring triple to boost his batting average to .411.

A pair of two-base errors by Northridge in the bottom of the sixth enabled Virginia Tech to regain the lead, 5-4, but an RBI double by Solar in the top of the seventh tied the score again. In the bottom of the inning, however, the Hokies (Virginia Tech’s nickname, not one given to CSUN’s defense) capitalized on right fielder Prosenko’s second error of the game to score again and go up, 6-5.

But with one out in the eighth, Clayton singled, Scott Richardson singled and Sharts launched Clontz’s two-ball offering into the jet stream. Northridge added two insurance runs in the ninth on Clayton’s run-scoring triple and an RBI ground out by Richardson.

Virginia Tech (6-3) got its first three batters in the ninth on base with a single, a walk and--you guessed it--an error, but Clayton got a double-play grounder then notched his 10th strikeout of the game, getting Martin Agee for the final out.

Northridge, which goes against 16th-ranked North Carolina at 10 a.m. today as pool play continues in the eight-team tournament, had 13 hits, at least one by every starter.