CS Northridge on Pace for a Playoff Berth : College baseball: Matadors reach midpoint in schedule with 20 wins. Their coach figures they need 40 for a postseason bid.

The success of Cal State Northridge’s first baseball season at the major-college level might hinge on one number: 40.

That’s 40, as in 40 wins. And in the eyes of Matador Coach Bill Kernen, it is a rather magical number.

Forty wins, Kernen believes, would earn Northridge a berth in the NCAA Division I playoffs--the highest of what should be considered the team’s most plausible goals this season.

To that end, a ninth-inning home run by Mike Solar, which gave Northridge a 7-6 win over the University of Hartford on Thursday, put the Matadors directly on line.

Halfway through its 60-game schedule, the Matadors have 20 wins, nine losses and a tie. A few other numbers to consider:

* Northridge has played only eight home games. Of CSUN’s remaining 30 games, half are at home, where the Matadors are 6-1-1.

* Northridge is 11-6 on the road and 3-2 on neutral ground, despite playing such nationally ranked teams as USC, Creighton, Fresno State and Arizona.

* Northridge is 6-3 against teams ranked in either Collegiate Baseball magazine’s Top 30 or Baseball America magazine’s Top 25.

* Of Northridge’s remaining games, only four--two with Cal State Long Beach and two with Pepperdine--are against teams ranked this week by Collegiate Baseball.

So it might appear the Matadors have the toughest part of their schedule behind them.

“But the schedule thing can be a double-edged sword,” Kernen cautions.

He need look no further than Thursday’s game at home against Hartford for an example.

Hartford, unranked and playing its opener, led most of the way before Solar homered to right on the first pitch thrown by Hawk reliever Chris Caron in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Solar’s first home run of the season and Northridge’s fourth of the game--Craig Clayton, Scott Richardson and Greg Shockey also homered--made a winner of reliever David Eggert (3-1). But it did little to ease Kernen’s concerns about a second-half letdown.

“It’s human nature to zero in on the tough situations versus ranked teams,” Kernen said. “It’s tougher when it’s expected, when you’re playing a team you think you should be better than.

“It’s easy to fall into that trap where you’re not taking each game the same and your level of play drops. There is a fear factor that doesn’t come into play.

“From that standpoint, the second half of the season may be the hardest. If we’re not at the top of our game and they put one together, then we have a problem. That’s exactly what happened today.”

Northridge had 12 hits against four Hartford pitchers, but the Matadors stranded 11 runners and committed four errors.

Hartford had 10 hits, the most Northridge has allowed since a Feb. 17 game against Cal State Fullerton.

“What we have left are a bunch of unranked teams that are gunning for us because we are (ranked),” Sharts said.

Added Shockey: “We’re playing guys now who read the papers and they know we’re pretty good. So maybe they don’t have a good record and maybe they’re not going anywhere, but if they’re the fighting type they’re looking for a big win. Everyone is teeing it off to get us.”

In other words, Northridge, once the hunter, has become the hunted.

Or, as Kernen put it, “Sometimes it’s harder to stay on top than it is to get there.”

However, having 20 wins, a second-place finish in last week’s prestigious Fresno tournament and being nationally ranked (20th by Baseball America, 21st by Collegiate Baseball) certainly beats the alternative.

Kernen says opposing coaches who have input in the playoff selection process have told him that Northridge and Miami are the two independents most likely to receive postseason invitations.

“We have ourselves in position to get what we’re after,” Kernen said. “We have the rankings and people know who we are. At least it’s in our control. From now on, it’s our job to get it done.”

Notes:

Clayton singled on the first pitch thrown by Hartford starter Mike Morhardt to extend his hitting streak to 21 games. Clayton had three hits, including his fourth home run. He will be the starting pitcher when CSUN begins a three-game series at UC Irvine tonight at 7. The series moves to CSUN on Saturday at 1 p.m., then returns to Irvine for a 1 p.m. game Sunday.