Kendrena Leads USC on a Wild Chase, 6-1 : College baseball: Pitcher strikes out 16 to lead Cal State Northridge to its fifth consecutive win.

Kenny Kendrena didn’t get fancy Tuesday. He tried a strategy, found that it worked, and stuck with it.

Time and again the Cal State Northridge right-hander kicked up the Dedeaux Field dust with pitches in the dirt.

And USC repeatedly swung at them and missed.

“We had them chasing all day,” Northridge catcher Mike Sims said. “Once you see that, you just keep on doing it until they stop.”

In all, 16 USC batters struck out--13 of them swinging--in CSUN’s 6-1 victory, the Matadors’ fifth in a row. USC doesn’t keep Dedeaux Field records, but longtime followers of Trojan baseball could not recall a pitcher accounting for more than 16 strikeouts.

“When he’s got his stuff, his split-finger and his breaking ball, he’s unbeatable,” Sims said. “I think we’re seeing the real Kenny Kendrena now.”

After earning All-American recognition with a 13-2 record last season, Kendrena started his senior campaign 0-3.

But he has won his past two outings, allowing one earned run in 17 innings.

USC’s only run was unearned. It came in the sixth inning on a two-base throwing error by Denny Vigo and a run-scoring double by Aaron Boone. Otherwise, the Trojans (7-7) did not muster much of a threat.

Kendrena, who finished with a four-hitter, had at least one strikeout in every inning and struck out the side in the eighth. He said he was simply following the lead of a teammate.

“I saw what (Kevin) Kloek did with his breaking ball and stuck with that,” Kendrena said.

Six days earlier, Kloek struck out 12 in defeating USC, 9-2, for Northridge’s first win after opening the season with four losses.

The Matadors, who equaled a season-high with 13 hits on Tuesday, now are streaking in the opposite direction. Or, as Kendrena put it, “Now we’re doing what we are supposed to do.”

Home runs accounted for Northridge’s first three runs. A solo shot by Vigo high over the 395-foot sign in center gave the Matadors the jump on Trojan starter Ryan Henderson in the second inning.

In the fifth, Greg Shepard homered after Kyle Washington’s leadoff walk and Northridge was up 3-0.

Shepard’s homer, his first, followed a pep talk from Kernen, who watched the junior transfer from U.S. International University strike out looking at three Henderson fastballs in the second inning.

Northridge tacked on single runs in the final three innings on run-scoring singles by Scott Richardson and Jason Shanahan and a sacrifice fly by Washington.

Richardson, Shepard, Shanahan and Andy Hodgins each had two hits for Northridge (5-4), which has a week off before playing host to UC Santa Barbara at Matador Field on March 3.