Washington Catches Credit in CSUN Win

Kyle Washington is both slight of build and light in experience when it comes to catching at the college level, but neither was evident based on his performance in the first two days of the 13th Fresno baseball tournament.

Squatting for nine innings certainly did not detract from his hitting. Washington, Cal State Northridge’s new backstop, blasted a three-run home run and drove in four runs to help the Matadors defeat North Carolina, 6-1, Tuesday in the second round of pool play at Beiden Field.

Northridge (17-7-1) will go for its third consecutive tournament win today at 10:00 a.m., against 20th-ranked Creighton. The Bluejays (11-1 overall) are 2-0 in the tournament after defeating Virginia Tech, 6-3, in another second-round game.

Scott Sharts (5-2) picked up the win, scattering seven hits en route to his fourth complete game of the season. He reported afterward that his new battery mate catches about as well as he hits. “We worked real well together,” Sharts said. “I have all the confidence in the world in Kyle. What he’s doing isn’t easy, but he has that ability.”

Washington, a 5-foot-10, 165-pound sophomore who usually starts in the outfield, has been the starting catcher since the tendinitis in Mike Sims’ left wrist was aggravated in a game March 2.

The adjustment has not been easy. “To come in and catch all the time I have to change my whole mentality,” Washington said. “It takes a toll on my knees. Squatting down back there is a lot different than running around out in the outfield.”

It probably felt especially gratifying, then, to stretch those legs while circling the bases. Washington’s second homer of the season highlighted a four-run seventh inning as the Matadors broke open a pitchers’ duel between Sharts and Jay Johnson, North Carolina’s starter.

Sharts and Johnson were a study in contrast but almost equally effective through the first six innings as Northridge clung to a 1-0 lead.

Washington accounted for Northridge’s only run to that point with a fourth-inning sacrifice fly that scored Sharts, a junior who led off the inning with the second triple of his collegiate career.

Johnson walked a tightrope much of the game, throwing 114 pitches through six innings. Sharts mowed down the Tar Heels (12-5) on only 66 (92 for the game).

Sharts struck out eight of the first 13 batters he faced, allowing only a bunt single. He was in such command that he never fell behind until Chris Cox walked on four pitches in the fifth inning. “I wanted to put a quality game together because I haven’t done that in a while,” Sharts said. He finished with 10 strikeouts and one walk.

Notes

Craig Clayton extended his hitting streak to 16 games with an assist from Darren Villani, the Tar Heels’ second baseman. Villani booted a ground ball hit by David Prosenko with two out in the eighth inning, giving Clayton an extra at bat. Clayton lined the first pitch into right field for a single. . . . Scott Richardson went two for four to extend his hitting streak to 10 games. . . . Ken Kendrena (4-1) will start for Northridge today. He defeated UC Santa Barbara, 4-2, on a three-hitter in his last start.