Solar a Constant for Northridge in a Game of Variables : College baseball: Versatile and reliable performer leads the Matadors into their NCAA regional opener against Arizona State.

No matter what Mike Solar’s role on the Cal State Northridge baseball team, he has been consistent.

In the field, he has played shortstop, third base and first base. As a hitter, he has spent time at nearly every stop in the batting order.

“He is the same no matter where you put him,” Coach Bill Kernen said. “Some guys, if they’re down in the order and you move them up and they get pitched tougher, they can’t handle it.

“Other guys might change their swing. I use Solar as kind of a swing guy in the lineup because he never changes.”

Well, almost never.

When it comes to playoff time, Solar seems to change for the better.

Two years ago, in Northridge’s final season of NCAA Division II competition, Solar batted .444 in the postseason with three home runs and nine runs batted in.

Last season, in the Matadors’ Division I playoff debut, Solar hit three home runs in five games in the West II Regional in Fresno.

Kernen is hoping for similar results as the Matadors (37-14-1) open play in the NCAA Midwest Regional. Northridge will play Arizona State (32-22) at 9 a.m. today at Wichita State’s Eck Stadium-Tyler Field.

A pair of right-handers with 10-6 records will take the mound. Kenny Kendrena will start for Northridge and he will be opposed by Jeff Matranga.

“He’s one of those guys that when it gets down to crunch time, all of a sudden he pops up at a real valuable time,” Kernen said of Solar.

This season, Solar has not saved his heroics solely for the playoffs. He has hit a team-high 14 home runs, double his output of a year ago. He is batting .282 and is second on the team with 49 RBIs.

And he still doesn’t lack for timing. Last month, Solar hit a three-run, 11th-inning home run against Cal State Sacramento to give Northridge a 10-7 win.

Then, two weeks ago, when the Matadors were trailing Pepperdine and down to their last strike, Solar struck again. He hit a solo home run that forced extra innings.

“He does things that surprise you sometimes,” Kernen said.

In one instance this year, on the final night of a weeklong preseason camp at Matador Field, each player was asked to speak in front of the team.

Solar, a senior, responded with an emotional speech about how last season’s ninth-inning collapse in the regional championship game had troubled him. With tears streaming down his face, Solar exhorted his fellow players to help him erase the pain of his memories.

“Those were true feelings,” Solar said. “I had a hard time this summer, especially the first couple of days afterward. We were so close.

“And I still feel that way. I probably always will. For me, realistically, this is possibly the last time I can win a team championship of any meaning.”

Solar played for a Southern Section champion at Covina High in 1988, but a College World Series championship, he said, has been a longtime goal.

“I watch the Series every year on TV. I’d tape the early games and then watch the night game live, but I really had a tough time last year,” Solar said.

Solar said that only a title--in a regional considered by many to be the toughest in the tournament--will erase the disappointment of a season ago.

“If we come up short again it’s just going to be there forever,” he said. “That’s something you can never put away unless you can bury it with something positive.”