UCLA Earns Revenge With Rout of CSUN

Another midweek nonconference game, another lopsided loss for Cal State Northridge. This time, ninth-ranked UCLA delivered the blows, pounding the host Matadors, 19-5, Wednesday.

In the past two weeks, Northridge has been blasted by CS Fullerton, 12-4, and by CS Long Beach, 20-2.

Wednesday’s game bore no resemblance to Northridge’s 4-3 win over UCLA on March 16. Winning pitcher John Bushart was used twice that week by Coach Bill Kernen. But with a Western Athletic Conference doubleheader Monday and a three-game WAC series beginning Friday at Hawaii, Kernen could not use Bushart or his other top pitchers, Keven Kempton and Marco Contreras.

UCLA (16-7) also used second-line pitching, but it held up better and benefited from a 5-0 first-inning lead.

Johnny Najar, the starter for 21st-ranked Northridge, consistently fell behind in the count. The Bruins responded with 12 hits and 11 runs before Najar was replaced by Jason Van Heerde in the fifth inning.

Van Heerde allowed three runs in 2 2/3 innings and was replaced by Jason Shanahan, who surrendered five runs, three on solo home runs, including one by former El Camino Real High standout Ryan McGuire.

McGuire was four for five and hit his 12th and 13th homers of the season.

Despite the Bruins’ early leads of 5-1 and 7-2, Northridge hitting leader Greg Shepard said his teammates should have been more competitive.

“We fell flat after the third inning,” said Shepard who homered and doubled. “You could hear a pin drop. I take it personally when a team comes into our yard and does that. They were having the greatest time in the world.

“It’s like we left for Hawaii today. I don’t care if they score 17 (actually 19) runs. We should put up some runs to get some confidence for this weekend.”

UCLA Coach Gary Adams posted a newspaper article about the Matadors’ March 16 win over UCLA as a reminder to the Bruins of the mistakes they made in the game.

Moreover, Adams wanted his players to remember that they allowed the Northridge fans, primarily a group of vocal Northridge men’s volleyball players, to distract them. “Today we were prepared,” Adams said. “If the volleyball team was here, we weren’t going to let them get to us. That’s why we came out swinging the bats in the first inning.”