Playoff Berth in the Balance for Northridge

It is put up or shut down time for the Cal State Northridge baseball team in the final weekend of Western Athletic Conference regular-season play.

“We play our best when our backs are to the wall, when we have to do it,” catcher Mike Sims said. “If we don’t show up for this series, our season is finished Tuesday.”

Northridge will start a three-game series against Fresno State today at Matador Field with a chance to stake a claim for an at-large berth in the 48-team NCAA tournament. However, the Matadors have no chance to win the WAC Western Division title even if they sweep Fresno State and pull into a virtual tie for first place.

Conference officials settled that issue when they awarded Fresno State the title even though the Bulldogs failed to make up two games against last-place San Diego State.

Fresno State (35-17), in first place with a 13-6 mark, leads third-place Northridge (31-17, 11-10) by three games. Second-place Cal State Sacramento (32-22, 13-11) already has completed conference play.

“If we sweep, they are not going to have a true champion for the league because not everyone did the same thing,” Northridge Coach Bill Kernen said. “To be a true champion, you have to play the same number of games, home and away. That’s what a league is. Teams play each other.”

WAC officials said that, according to conference policy, teams are not required to make up rained-out games unless they can be played within a day of a regularly scheduled conference game. That was not possible in the case of Fresno State and San Diego State.

A Northridge sweep would move the Matadors into second place and almost certainly earn them an NCAA berth. Two wins would mean a tie for second, but Sacramento holds the tiebreaker edge because the Hornets had a better record (6-0) against the last-place team in the WAC West (San Diego State) than Northridge (4-2).

Regardless of the tiebreaker, the NCAA committee likely will be more impressed with Northridge because of a better overall record and superior strength of schedule.

Northridge needs two victories this weekend, or it probably will miss the playoffs for the first time since moving to Division I in 1991.