CSUN Sets Sights on National Title

The problem with trying to gauge the Cal State Northridge baseball team is one of perception.

Should the Matadors’ arsenal be considered partially empty, or mostly full?

Professional baseball stole two of the biggest guns, but the rest of the firepower is back, battled-tested and buoyed by the addition of promising players.

Northridge, 44-18-1 last season, is unranked in one preseason poll and 11th in another, but at least one well-informed source views the team’s prospects far more optimistically.

“If this isn’t a championship group of guys, then I’ve never seen one,” said Northridge Coach Bill Kernen, who was an assistant at Cal State Fullerton in the 1970s when the Titans won two regional titles and one national championship.

The group does not include Craig Clayton and Scott Sharts, workhorses who chose to forgo their final season of college eligibility to sign minor league contracts.

Kernen is convinced that experience, maturity and added depth more than make up the void.

“Mentally and approach-wise and goal-wise, these guys are way down the road from where we were last year because they know exactly what they want and how to get it,” Kernen said.

The Matadors believe they have a legitimate shot at winning the national championship, having come within three outs of winning the West II Regional last season, their first as a Division I independent.

Replacing Clayton and Sharts, Kernen says, is simply a matter of juggling numbers. Northridge hit 72 home runs last season, including 22 by Sharts and nine by Clayton. “We’re still going to be right around that number this year,” Kernen said. “We’re just going to get there differently.”

Increased power production is expected from second baseman Scott Richardson, who had nine homers last season, and shortstop Mike Solar, third baseman Denny Vigo and outfielders Greg Shockey and Kyle Washington, each of whom had seven.

A return to form by Vigo, who was plagued by a pulled hamstring much of last season, would be a big boost. Vigo, a 6-foot-3, 220-pound senior, batted .300 with 19 home runs and 58 runs batted in as a sophomore, but his production slipped to .229 with seven homers and 25 RBIs as he ducked in and out of the lineup.

Richardson, who batted second last season, has moved to leadoff and Northridge expects to benefit from his base-stealing ability. Richardson had 20 steals in 26 attempts last season to go with a .335 batting average.

Shockey, a senior who surprisingly was passed over in last June’s draft, is the Matadors’ top returning offensive threat. One of only three Matadors who swings left-handed, Shockey batted a team-high .366 last season and was second with 59 RBIs.

Shockey will bat third and play right field, moving over from center to make room for Andy Hodgins, a .244 hitter last season who is the team’s best fielder.

Either Washington (.262), David Prosenko (.208) or Greg Shepard, a left-handed hitting transfer from U.S. International University, will play left field. The other position up for grabs is first base, where Chris Olsen, a junior transfer from Cerritos College, is battling switch-hitting freshman Jason Shanahan, an American Legion standout from Missoula, Mont.

Mike Sims returns for his third season as the starting catcher. Sims batted .308 last season despite a recurring wrist injury and Kernen considers him one of the top defensive catchers in the nation.

In Friday’s 2 p.m. opener against Christ College of Irvine at Matador Field, Sims will be calling signals for Kenny Kendrena, a senior right-hander who last season was 13-2 and posted a 2.75 earned-run average.

Kendrena gives the Matadors an experienced ace for pressure situations, but Northridge probably will sink or swim with Steven Morales and Kevin Kloek, a pair of newcomers who are expected to replace Clayton and Sharts (who had 25 wins between them) in the starting rotation.

Morales, a right-hander who was 17-5 in two seasons for Cerritos College, has been overpowering at times during scrimmages. Kloek, another right-hander who was 18-6 in two seasons at Citrus College, is the staff’s hardest thrower.

Left-handers David Eggert and John Bushart both pitched infrequently last season but could play vital roles out of the bullpen or as spot starters.