Kloek Ends Northridge Dry Spell, 9-2

The drought ended for the Cal State Northridge baseball team Tuesday under a cloudless sky at Matador Field.

Faced with the prospect of opening with five consecutive losses for the first time since 1979, the Matadors pummeled USC, 9-2, behind the five-hit pitching of Kevin Kloek.

A junior right-hander, Kloek struck out 12 without walking a batter and fanned at least one in every inning. He never faced more than four batters in an inning.

USC’s only runs came on solo home runs by Bobby Hughes and J. P. Roberge.

Kloek said Hughes’ second-inning homer, his fourth in 10 games, served as an “awakening.”

“I didn’t challenge anyone again with the fastball because of that,” Kloek said. “I had to learn on that pitch.”

And a quick study he was.

Take away Roberge’s eighth-inning homer and the Trojans’ only other hits were singles by Greg Tippin and Lionel Hastings leading off the third inning.

But that threat fizzled when Shon Malani grounded into a double play. Kloek then struck out Aaron Boone to end the inning. Tippin was the last baserunner to reach second base for USC (4-6).

“I just made pitches in the right spots,” said Kloek, who was making his first start at the four-year college level. “I didn’t think any (pitch) was overpowering. My fastball wasn’t. It went over the fence a couple of times.”

Instead, Kloek stuck with his slider to end Northridge’s slide just in the nick of time.

“You just can’t dig too deep a hole for yourself because you don’t have a league to start over again in March,” Northridge Coach Bill Kernen said, referring to the Matadors’ status as a Division I independent. “This game was critical, no question about it.”

Northridge scored in the first when Kyle Washington singled in Greg Shockey, and the Matadors took the lead for good in the third on Mike Solar’s second homer of the season, a solo blast to left-center field.

Denny Vigo’s two-run double with one out in the fifth sparked a three-run fifth-inning uprising and Northridge added three unearned runs in the seventh to make the game a rout.

Shockey’s solo home run in the eighth, his first of the season, finished the scoring.

Vigo’s fifth-inning drive into the gap in left-center was key considering Northridge’s penchant for stranding runners. In Monday’s loss to Fullerton, Vigo left the bases loaded in a similar situation with two out.

Against reliever Dan Hubbs, Vigo fell behind 0-2, then lashed a curveball that one-hopped the wall.