CSUN’s Clayton Dissects UCLA With a 5-Hitter, 4-2

The do-not-disturb sign was up at Jackie Robinson Stadium in Westwood on Wednesday night, where neither gusty winds nor chill of night kept Craig Clayton from his appointed rounds.

Dr. Clayton was in and he put on a clinic, slicing through the UCLA lineup from the mound and wreaking havoc on the base paths as Cal State Northridge defeated the Bruins, 4-2, in a nonconference game for its seventh win in a row.

A UCLA lineup with the speed of a relay team and a combined batting average of .320 formed one of Northridge’s most formidable tests of the season. But for Clayton, it was business as usual--even in rather unusual playing conditions.

The junior right-hander from Anaheim won his seventh in a row, scattering five hits and striking out nine. Oh, and he also had three hits, a run batted in and another run he at least partially accounted for with some quick thinking.

All this amid sporadic dust storms caused by a tree-bending wind blowing in from left field.

The wind worked both to Northridge’s advantage and disadvantage. To the Matadors’ benefit, the wind helped keep three balls hit by UCLA’s Chris Pritchett in play and in the gloves of Northridge outfielders.

“He probably would have hit three home runs,” Clayton said.

However, the wind also cost the Matadors (29-10-1) possible homers on three other occasions, including with two out in the fourth inning when Denny Vigo launched a long drive to left-center field that the wind turned into a warning-track out. The bases were loaded at the time.

That marked the first of three times the Matadors left the bases loaded, although by the time Vigo’s blast settled into the glove of Shawn Wills, Northridge had scored three times on a walk, a double by Greg Shockey and singles by Andy Hodgins, Clayton and Scott Richardson.

The hits by Clayton and Richardson both scored runs and some base-running antics helped score the third.

With Scott Sharts, who had walked, on third and Clayton on second, Kyle Washington hit a high hopper in the direction of Bruin shortstop Gary Hagey. It should have been an easy play, except that Hagey couldn’t see the ball with Clayton skipping merrily in front of him.

The ball went through Hagey’s legs for an error and Northridge had a 3-0 lead.

UCLA (18-18) chipped away at the Northridge advantage by pushing over single runs in the seventh and eighth innings, but the Matadors scored an insurance run in the ninth and Clayton retired the final three batters in order, striking out Robert Hinds on a slider in the dirt to end the game.

Northridge’s final run was unearned, scored by Richardson, who reached base on a throwing error by Hinds. He was moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Washington, took third on a single by Mike Sims and scored on a safety squeeze bunt by Mike Solar.

Clayton (9-2) cruised through the first five innings, but ran into trouble in the sixth. He walked three in the inning but UCLA did not score when Wills hit a comebacker to end the inning.

In the seventh, UCLA finally got on the scoreboard. David Ravitz singled and pinch-hitter Chris Lohman doubled to score Ravitz. Clayton, however, stranded Lohman by retiring the top three hitters in the Bruins’ order, getting David Tokheim and Hinds on strikes and Pritchett on a drive that Hodgins caught on the warning track in center.