Shockey Earns Respect in CSUN Sweep : College baseball: Matador junior drives in six runs in opener; Kendrena tosses two-hitter in second game.

Greg Shockey is a tall, nice-looking fellow with close-cropped, dark-brown hair. He turned 21 less than a month ago.

So why did Cal State Sacramento keep confusing him Saturday with Rodney Dangerfield?

Twice the Hornets chose to pitch around Cal State Northridge’s Scott Sharts and instead face Shockey, and twice the junior center fielder stung them.

Shockey--who had a season-high six runs batted in--slugged a three-run homer in the bottom of the 10th inning to give Northridge an 11-9 victory over Sacramento in the first game of a doubleheader at Matador Field.

Northridge’s Ken Kendrena lowered the broom on the Hornets in the second game, allowing only two hits and striking out eight to give Northridge a 4-0 victory and a sweep. The 16th-ranked Matadors improved to (37-14-1).

Was Shockey’s performance shocking? Not really, considering he began the day as the Matadors’ second-leading hitter with a .353 average.

“Just another day. When the game’s on the line, look for me to be up and look for the job to get done,” Shockey said. “That’s the kind of guy I am. I should get more respect. If you’re going to walk somebody in front of me, you’re going to get hurt.

“I take it as an insult.”

The Hornets (35-21-1) scored a run in the ninth inning of the first game on Eric Vorbeck’s RBI triple to tie the score, 8-8, then got a run-scoring single by John McCaustlin to take a 9-8 lead in the 10th.

It was the fifth lead change of the game, but there would be one more.

Scott Richardson, who had four hits and two RBIs in the opener, doubled to lead off the Matador 10th, bringing Sharts to the plate. Sharts, who had smacked his 22nd home run of the season in the fifth, got nothing to hit from reliever Eric Wagner and took a base on balls.

Shockey, a left-handed hitter, stepped in and launched a Wagner fastball over the 375-foot sign in left field, his sixth homer.

Sacramento chased starter Sharts in the sixth and took a 7-3 lead into the seventh. Northridge, 17-1-1 at home, rallied.

Andy Hodgins drew a one-out walk from Mike Teich, Mike Sims singled and Mike Solar doubled to score Hodgins. David Prosenko fouled out and, with two out, the Hornets intentionally passed team hitting leader Craig Clayton to face Richardson. The sophomore second baseman responded with a two-run double to cut Sacramento’s lead to 7-6. Don Dryden replaced Teich and intentionally walked Sharts to load the bases.

Dangerfield, er, Shockey followed by lining a double to the wall in left, giving CSUN an 8-7.

In the second game, Kendrena (11-1) allowed only a soft single by Gaylon Johnson in the second and a bloop single by Shawn Blankenship in the third. He faced 31 batters--four over the minimum.

“That’s the best ballgame we’ve had thrown at us all year,” Sacramento Coach John Smith said. “He had two off-speed pitches that were moving and we couldn’t even come close to them.”

Sharts doubled home Richardson in the third to give Northridge a 1-0 lead, and Denny Vigo hammered his seventh homer, a two-run shot, in the sixth. The Matadors pushed across their final run in the seventh without benefit of a hit.