CS Fullerton Gangs Up on Howland, Northridge

One night after playing its best baseball game of the season, 13th-ranked Cal State Northridge suffered its worst loss of the year, 12-4, to No. 12 Cal State Fullerton on Wednesday night at Titan Field.

Northridge (15-3), which entered play with a six-game winning streak, was denied its 1,000th victory in the 35-year history of the program.

The Matadors, whose other losses were by one run, lacked a commanding pitching performance.

In his second start, Evan Howland (1-1), a freshman from El Camino Real High, gave up 11 hits and eight earned runs in five innings and allowed Fullerton (12-7) to rally from a two-run deficit.

“It’s a little frustrating,” Howland said, shaking his head. “I put the ball where I thought it was supposed to be, and they just kept hitting it.”

Coach Bill Kernen, who saved his top three pitchers for an upcoming Western Athletic Conference series, said it might have been too much to expect from Howland against the 1992 NCAA runner-up.

“He didn’t have his best stuff, but it is asking a lot of a guy coming out of high school to pitch against one of the best teams in the country,” Kernen said.

Howland, an infielder who did not take up pitching until the summer of 1991, said he expected more of himself.

“I should have been able to handle it if I’m called on to do it,” he said. “Not to say they’re not a quality club, I feel I should put these guys away.”

Northridge took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on Jason Shanahan’s bloop single, Andy Hodgins’ double and David Prosenko’s high chopper to shortstop.

Andy Small led off the third with a solo home run, his seventh of the season and second in as many nights. But his teammates could not pad their lead despite loading the bases on two singles and an error. Prosenko hit into a 6-2-3 double play, and Chris Olsen lined out to right field.

The Titans responded in the bottom of the inning with four runs on four hits to take a 4-2 lead.

With one out, Howland hit Jeremy Carr. Jeff Ferguson followed with a double to left and Dante Powell drove him in with a double that hugged the left-field line. Then Adam Millan extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a triple that shadowed the right-field line and bounced around in the corner, scoring Ferguson and Powell. Tony Banks knocked in Millan with a Texas Leaguer that dropped in front of center fielder Joey Arnold.

Northridge tied the score in the fourth on singles by Jonathan Campbell and Greg Shepard, a sacrifice fly by Arnold that drove in Campbell, and a two-out single to center by Mike Sims that scored Shepard.

Fullerton picked up where it left off the previous inning with four runs on four hits, including consecutive run-scoring doubles by D.C. Olsen, Carr and Ferguson, for an 8-4 lead.

The Titans increased their advantage to 10-4 with two runs in the sixth off Matador reliever Jason Van Heerde. He surrendered a one-out double to Ferguson, who took third on a wild pitch and scored on a single by Powell. After stealing second and third, Powell scored on Millan’s sacrifice fly.

In the seventh, the Titans scored again, on a two-base error by Prosenko, and in the eighth they scored on two singles off Shanahan, who had moved from first base to the mound.

Matador notes

After a six-game absence, Keyaan Cook was used as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning and played second base the last two innings. Cook, the starting designated hitter the first 11 games, was benched for throwing his helmet after he was replaced with a pinch-runner March 6 against Cal State Sacramento. “It is over,” Kernen said of the disciplinary action against Cook, who hit into a double play in his lone at-bat. . . . The game was delayed 15 minutes because of a power outage in the outfield. . . . For the third time in the past four games, designated hitter Jonathan Campbell popped out attempting to bunt with runners on base. “That is a tool he’s gotta have,” Kernen said. “We’re gonna have to get some work done on that.” . . . Keven Kempton, Marco Contreras and John Bushart are the scheduled starters for the Western Athletic Conference series at San Diego State beginning Friday.