Northridge Blanked by Hawaii, 6-0 : College baseball: Matadors held to four hits in suffering first shutout of the season.

One night after rapping out 17 hits, Cal State Northridge was handcuffed by Hawaii’s Matt Apana in a 6-0 loss in front of 3,351 Saturday night at Rainbow Stadium.

Apana (10-0) held the Matadors to a season-low four hits and struck out 10. He also walked seven batters, but Northridge (20-8, 6-5 in Western Athletic Conference play) did not take advantage, blowing bases-loaded chances in the fourth and sixth innings to suffer their first shutout of the season.

“We had some opportunities, but we didn’t capitalize,” CSUN Coach Bill Kernen said. “And he (Apana) made some exceptional pitches in key spots.”

Andy Small, who walked twice and extended his WAC hitting streak to nine games with a single, was not overly impressed with Apana.

“We took way too many fastballs,” Small said. “We were too passive at the plate. Look at the bottom of the lineup (six strikeouts, no hits).”

Fifteenth-ranked Hawaii (25-12, 3-2) grabbed a 4-0 lead with two outs in the first inning against Marco Contreras (4-2). Franz Yuen drew a walk on four pitches and his teammates followed with four run-scoring hits, including doubles by Kenny Harrison and Shawn Rogers.

Northridge, ranked 21st nationally threatened in the fourth when Andy Hodgins led off with a single to center. After Small struck out and Mike Sims lined out, Keyaan Cook and Chris Olsen drew walks, loading the bases for Jason Shanahan, who grounded out on the first pitch, ending the threat.

“The guy throws seven balls in a row and then Shanahan swings at the first pitch,” Kernen said.

With two on and two out in the bottom of the fourth, Olsen dropped a line drive, allowing the Rainbows to load the bases for Sy Farinas, who made the Matadors pay with two-run double for a 6-0 Hawaii lead.

Sims and Shanahan bailed Contreras out in the fifth with two outstanding defensive plays. Sims threw out Harrison, who attempted to steal second, and Shanahan snagged a sharply hit grounder to start a double play.

Northridge loaded the bases again in the sixth, but but Shanahan struck out and David Prosenko grounded out.

Northridge held off the Rainbows to win the first game of the series, 11-9, late Friday. CSUN starter Keven Kempton (5-2) was upset with himself for allowing five runs in the seventh and eighth innings.

“If I keep having these Dr. Jekyll-Mr. Hyde outings I’m going to get beat,” Kempton said. “The good thing was that the offense pulled through.”

Kempton threw 162 pitches for his seventh complete game of the season.