Mowl, Fast Proving His Worth, Leads CSUN to Win

Bill Kernen can recall several occasions when he thought Scott Mowl would never play baseball for Cal State Northridge.

The doubts had nothing to do with Mowl’s hitting or throwing abilities. Foot speed, however, was a concern.

Mowl, a lumbering 6-foot-4 junior, routinely failed to meet running requirements set by the Northridge coach during the Matadors’ fall conditioning program.

“We told him, ‘If you don’t make it, you don’t play,’ ” Kernen said. “And we weren’t kidding.”

But Mowl made it--on his final opportunity. And is Northridge glad.

A recent addition to the Matador lineup, Mowl went two for three and crushed a three-run home run in a five-run first inning Wednesday, helping Northridge to a 10-4 victory over Cal State Fullerton at Matador Field.

Mowl’s homer, his second of the season, brought Northridge (18-5-1) back from a 2-0 deficit and started the Matadors toward their ninth consecutive win.

Although he lost 20 pounds--down to 215--while training in the fall, Mowl, a walk-on who transferred from Cal State Los Angeles, says he considers the sacrifice worth it. Since cracking the lineup as designated hitter earlier this month, he is batting .333.

“I don’t think it matters what pitch I’m getting right now,” he said. “The ball is looking like a basketball to me.”

Each highly regarded opponent must look equally fat to the red-hot Matadors, who have lost only once in their past 20 games. Fullerton is ranked 11th in the nation by Collegiate Baseball magazine and seventh by Baseball America. Northridge is rated 18th and 19th, respectively.

“That’s the best team we’ve played by far,” said Kernen, whose team has split two games with the Titans this season.

Fullerton (20-8) jumped on Northridge starter Steven Morales in the first inning when Phil Nevin belted his 14th home run, a two-run blast to right field.

But after giving up another homer, a solo shot by Jim Betzsold in the second inning, Morales settled in. He struck out eight, walked two, and scattered seven hits in improving his record to 4-1.

Northridge also had seven hits--including two by Greg Shepard. Fullerton contributed to its own demise with four errors that resulted in three unearned runs.

After Betzsold’s homer cut Northridge’s lead to 5-3, the Matadors pushed across two unearned runs on one hit in the third, another run on one hit in the fourth, and two runs on two hits in the eighth.