VALLEY-AREA ROUNDUP : CSUN Rolls in Baseball

Right-hander Marco Contreras threw a four-hitter for his second shutout in as many starts and John Bushart struck out 12 en route to an eight-hitter as Cal State Northridge won two games Sunday to complete a three-game sweep of host Loyola Marymount.

With the 2-0 and 7-2 nonconference wins, Northridge (7-0) is off to the second-best start in the team’s 35-year history. The 1972 Matadors opened with 11 wins en route to a 43-20 record.

Contreras survived a tense ninth inning in the first game to extend his streak of scoreless innings to 18 2/3. With one out and a man at third, Darren Sugiyama hit into a 6-4-3 double play (one of four double plays the Matadors turned Sunday), preserving Contreras’ 0.00 earned-run average and improving his record to 2-0 with a save.

Northridge Coach Bill Kernen, who was ejected in the eighth inning for fervidly arguing a call, watched anxiously from behind a fence at Page Stadium.

Kernen was impressed because Contreras was dominant despite a lack of tight rotation on his slider.

Northridge scored its first run in the fourth inning after back-to-back singles by Mike Sims and Keyaan Cook. Sims scored on a groundout and a wild pitch. In the fifth inning, Greg Shepard belted a two-out double and scored on Andy Small’s double to right field.

In the second game, Northridge took a 3-0 lead in the second on singles by Small and Cook, an RBI double by Joey Arnold, and Jason Shanahan’s two-run single. In the third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings, the Matadors scored single runs with Cook, Sims, Chris Olsen and David Prosenko accounting for RBIs.

Bushart (2-0) was at his best when the pressure was on. He got a bunt groundout after loading the bases in the second. In the third, he walked the first two batters, both of whom scored, but averted a more damaging inning by striking out two batters with men on first and second. “I was kinda ticked off when the bases were loaded,” Bushart said. “I went after it and picked it up a notch.”

Loyola fell to 3-9.