Northridge Slips Out of Gear : College baseball: North Carolina scores 12 unanswered runs to beat Matadors, 15-8, in 10 innings in Carolina Invitational.

In high gear and pulling away with each at-bat, the Cal State Northridge baseball team shifted into cruise control only to have its high-powered offense misfire, sputter and eventually die.

North Carolina, trailing by five after four innings, scored 12 unanswered runs--including seven in the final inning--to shock the eighth-ranked Matadors, 15-8, in 10 innings Saturday in the Carolina Invitational.

And so the host Tar Heels will have at least one pleasant memory from an otherwise forgettable season. North Carolina, a playoff team a year ago, suffered through an 8-16 Atlantic Coast Conference campaign this season.

“We knew going in this was going to be special for them. It was something they were looking forward to, playing us and Long Beach on back-to-back days, and they were ready for us,” Northridge Coach Bill Kernen said. “They teed it up on us.”

Indeed, the Tar Heels (31-26) knocked off 10th-ranked Cal State Long Beach, 7-6, on Friday.

Against Kevin Kloek, John Bushart and Jason Van Heerde, North Carolina had 19 hits--four more than the previous high Matador pitchers had allowed in a game this season. The 15 runs also marked a season-high for an opponent.

“We pretty much got our butts kicked tonight,” said Scott Mowl, Northridge’s first baseman. “When we scored that eighth run, I think we might have sat back a little bit.”

Mowl provided most of the Matadors’ punch, slugging home runs in his first two at-bats to account for four of the runs. His three-run homer on a full-count pitch in the first gave Northridge a jump-start against Tar Heel starter Jay Johnson.

In the third, Mowl led off the inning with his 12th homer, high and far over the fence down the right-field line. A two-run single by Chris Olsen staked Kloek and the Matadors to a 6-1 lead.

Then unusual things started happening.

With one on and two out in the fourth, Scott Hughes, a .253 hitter who had not hit a home run in 91 at-bats, took Kloek deep over the right-field fence to cut North Carolina’s deficit to three.

Northridge answered with a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the inning--in the tournament format, the Matadors were the home team--but the Tar Heels scored a run in the fifth, three in the seventh and another in the eighth to force extra innings.

And it was Hughes who struck a second key blow, muscling up for a three-run homer off Kloek with two out in the seventh.

Bushart came on in the eighth with Northridge clinging to an 8-7 lead, but North Carolina tied it on a walk, an error by Matador third baseman Mike Solar and a run-scoring single by Doug Merritt.

Northridge (37-13-1) committed three errors and second baseman Scott Richardson failed to convert two double-play chances--the second of which led to Hughes’ seventh-inning homer.

Given new life, North Carolina took advantage in the 10th against Bushart. The first six batters reached base safely in the inning on a walk, Solar’s second error and four consecutive singles.

After a groundout and a line drive that was caught by center fielder Greg Shockey, Bushart (5-2) allowed two more hits before he was lifted in favor of Van Heerde.

Van Heerde was greeted by yet another single, but the inning came to a merciful end when Keith Grunewald was tagged out rounding third.

“Hopefully, they taught us something out there today,” said Kernen, whose team will conclude regular-season play against Wake Forest at 9 a.m. today. “In the regionals, a lot of things can happen. There’s a lot of not-normal stuff that goes on--guys who haven’t hit all season go off, et cetera.”