CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE BASEBALL : The First Year in Division: Epilogue : Great Heights Made the Fall More Difficult : CSUN: Finishing one inning shy of World Series should not overshadow the Matadors’ significant accomplishments.

The final images of Cal State Northridge’s baseball season depict players with swollen eyes speaking in whispers, a ball lost in the sun and a throw, perfectly executed countless times in practice, that got away.

A pitcher makes like a hockey goalie, desperately trying to flag a line drive past the mound. A capacity crowd erupts, cheering loudly. Opposing players joyfully spill onto the field.

Huge letters on the scoreboard proclaim: “Omaha.”

Fresno State, the host team for the NCAA West II Regional, is there to play in the College World Series.

Northridge has come home.

The carriage crashed, the pumpkin burned. The Matadors surrendered two runs in an ill-fated bottom of the ninth inning and dropped a 6-5 decision to Fresno in the regional championship game.

The images linger, but they dare not last, lest they become illusions.

Northridge won 44 games, tied one and lost 18, including a very important one at the end. And when the last out of the College World Series has been recorded, the obituaries of 46 other playoff teams will read much the same way.

But none of them accomplished as much with so little in their first Division I season.

Craig Clayton, who three years ago was within hours of attending a junior college, collapsed into the arms of teammates after shutting down Fresno, 7-2, on two days’ rest in Sunday’s first game.

That was a more appropriate scene to remember.

So too was the aftermath of Northridge’s first meeting with Miami, a college baseball program by which others are judged. Northridge defeated the Hurricanes, 13-6, scoring more runs and getting more hits (17) than any team had generated against Miami in 20 years of playoff competition.

Afterward, Miami Coach Ron Fraser was left shaking his head. “They just blew us out,” he said.

Clayton, Scott Sharts and Greg Shockey, who were a combined 0 for 12 in the regional championship game, are foremost among players who should be remembered for better times.

They were the heart and soul of Northridge baseball teams the past two seasons. And although all three have another year of eligibility, chances are they won’t use it.

They all stand to be taken in the June amateur draft, and, given the proper circumstances, probably will sign professional contracts.

“The most important recruiting I do may be with guys who are already on this team,” Coach Bill Kernen said early in the season.

He was not exaggerating.

Good baseball programs experience the same problem every season and in three seasons Kernen has constructed, or at the very least reconstructed, one of prominence.

First year, 30-19-1.

Second year, 39-22, Division II runner-up.

This year, the best winning percentage (.706) in school history.

Omaha seems a plausible destination in the near future.

This season’s players came within three outs. There is, or should be, some consolation in that.

As pitchers, Clayton and Sharts combined to win 25 games. Clayton, who finished third in one publication’s national player-of-the-year balloting, batted .364 and was third on the team with 56 runs batted in. Sharts, as usual, led the way in the power departments with 22 home runs and 64 RBIs.

Shockey, a fierce competitor and an unsung hero, led the team with a .366 batting average and was second with 59 RBIs.

It would be an injustice if their fine performances, and that of a team three years in the making, were swept away by the proceedings of one afternoon.

Scott Richardson knows this as well as anyone. Last month, Richardson made an error that resulted in Northridge losing what was considered to be an important regular-season game. He responded by batting .453 thereafter.

Pity their opponents should the Matadors play next season with a resolve similar to that exhibited by their second baseman.

In 22 at-bats in five regional games, Richardson batted .455 and hit five home runs. He had four homers in 486 previous at-bats at the collegiate level.

Yet, in the hours that followed Northridge’s loss to Fresno, Richardson found it impossible to take comfort in individual accomplishments. “The final thing is, we didn’t get it done,” he said.

And of his selection to the all-regional team?

“Everything won’t hit me as far as a personal thing until a couple of days from now,” Richardson said. “When they said I was all-tournament I didn’t even care. Right now it’s not a factor.”

Richardson, a sophomore, is expected to return next season. So too are outfielders Kyle Washington and Andy Hodgins, catcher Mike Sims, shortstop Mike Solar, third baseman Denny Vigo and pitcher Ken Kendrena, among others.

They will have another year, another chance.

That fact was not lost on a group of Fresno fans who paused on their way out of Beiden Field on Sunday to compliment a distraught band of ballplayers slowly shuffling by.

“Cal State Northridge, first year in Division I, great season guys,” one man said. “Don’t worry, you’ll be back next season.”

Another man, thinking quickly, then added: “Yeah, but hopefully not in our regional.”

Freeze-frame that one.