Northridge to Play for Fresno Title

For an indication of what kind of day the Cal State Northridge baseball team had Thursday, one need look no further than the batting line for leadoff hitter Scott Richardson.

Although Richardson went hitless in two official at-bats--ending his hitting streak at 19 games--he managed to draw four walks, score three runs and steal two bases.

Even failure paid off for the Matadors, who whipped Nebraska, 11-5, to secure a berth in Saturday’s Fresno tournament championship game.

Regardless of how Northridge fares today against New Mexico, the Matadors (15-5-1) are guaranteed a berth in the title game at 7 p.m. Northridge is 4-0 in the eight-team event, and likely will play host to Fresno State for the title. The Bulldogs were 3-0 entering Thursday’s late game against Creighton.

Northridge, which leads the tournament in hitting and pitching, got fatter on four Nebraska pitchers. The first was junior Steve Boyd, a right-hander making his first start of the season.

Boyd immediately felt the wrath of an offense that had scored 26 runs in its first three tournament games. Richardson led off with a walk and scored one out later on Greg Shockey’s opposite-field home run off the scoreboard in left.

The home run was Shockey’s fifth, tying him with Mike Solar for the team lead.

Andy Hodgins had three hits and scored three runs, Kyle Washington drove in three runs and Denny Vigo hit a two-run home run for Northridge (15-5-1).

The offensive output eased the burden for pitcher David Eggert (2-0), a senior left-hander who went the distance in his first start of the season. Eggert, who had pitched only 4 1/3 innings this season before Thursday, allowed 13 hits, five earned runs and four walks. He struck out 10.

Two key defensive plays spared Eggert harm early in the game.

Jed Dalton led off the Cornhusker first with a drive to the center-field wall, but when he attempted to stretch it into a triple he was thrown out on a relay from Shockey to second baseman Richardson to Vigo at third.

In the third, with runners at first and third, shortstop Hodgins and Richardson turned Dale Hagy’s ground ball into a double play. Hagy had more success in four other at-bats, collecting four hits--including a home run--and driving in four runs for Nebraska (11-6).