CSUN’s Gillespie Has Out-of-Park Experience : College baseball: He hits tying homer in ninth and Matadors come from nine runs down for 13-12 victory.

The explanation was as twisted as the game itself.

When Cal State Northridge designated hitter Eric Gillespie stepped into the batter’s box with his team trailing by two runs with two out and a man on base in the top of the ninth, he blanked out.

“I just cleared my mind,” he said. “I didn’t even know how many outs there were. . . . I mean, I knew there were two outs when I stepped in, but I just made myself not think about it.”

Clear the mind, clear the bases.

Gillespie slammed a two-run home run to tie the score and his teammates rallied for two more runs in the ninth as Northridge climbed out of the grave to defeat UC Santa Barbara, 13-12, in a wild nonconference game.

Improbable? Definitely.

Northridge (4-3) stumbled and bumbled its way to an 11-2 deficit after five innings, whereupon Coach Bill Kernen circled the wagons and called a team meeting. At the time, it was a one-horse race.

“I told them 11 runs wasn’t enough to win the game,” Kernen said. “I got out the whip. We were nine lengths back, so I whipped their butts.”

Yee-haw. Before Kernen kicked his spurs, the Matadors played perhaps their worst five innings of baseball as Santa Barbara (2-7) waltzed to the nine-run lead. For instance, Northridge starting pitcher Evan Howland committed two errors and walked six batters over 4 1/3 innings. Five of the six walks turned into runs.

Aaron D’Aoust relieved Howland with two on and one out in the fifth and allowed both runners to score, plus two of his own for good measure. Right fielder Wynter Phoenix seemingly put the game out of reach when he tripled home two runs for an 11-2 lead.

Yet a succession of Santa Barbara relievers--the Gauchos used seven pitchers--couldn’t hold the lead. Santa Barbara committed two critical errors in the sixth as Northridge scored five times on two hits to make it 11-7. A run-scoring double by Josh Smaler keyed a two-run rally in the seventh as the Matadors pared the lead to 11-9.

Still holding a two-run edge, Santa Barbara sent hard-throwing right-hander Pat Treend (0-2) to the hill to open the ninth. Treend, an El Camino Real High graduate who had Tommy John surgery performed on his throwing elbow two years ago, retired the first two batters with ease.

But Treend walked Joey Arnold to set the stage for Gillespie, a freshman. Gillespie jumped on a 1-and-0 fastball and sent a high drive to right. It first appeared Phoenix had a shot at catching the blast at the wall, but the ball cleared his glove by inches.

That didn’t end the rally by any stretch. Keyaan Cook, Kevin Howard and Chad Thornhill banged out consecutive singles to give Northridge a 12-11 lead. With the bases loaded, Tyler Nelson was hit in the backside by a pitch to force home what proved to be the decisive run.

D’Aoust (1-0) made it interesting in the bottom of the inning, and not just because he pitched all day while wearing the jersey of injured teammate Andy Shaw.

“Where’s my jersey?” he said. “Good question.”

The jersey is lost, and pinch-hitter David Willis nearly lost one of D’Aoust’s offerings. Mark Umemoto and Notre Dame graduate Chris Prince opened the ninth with singles, and with one out, Willis sent a moon shot to deep left.

His surname is pronounced “Doused,” which isn’t exactly what the pitcher did to the Santa Barbara threat. D’Aoust said one word crossed his mind: “Oops.”

Left fielder Brian Vasey caught the ball with his back to the wall to preserve the two-run lead--for another heartbeat. Josh Smaldino followed with a run-scoring single to cut the lead to one while sending Prince to second.

Shortstop Matt Bokemeier, who was three for five as he stepped in, sent a twisting chopper to Cook at second. Cook bobbled the ball, recovered and fired a hurried strike to first, where Bokemeier was called out by a nanosecond.

It marked the third time in four games that Northridge has weathered a nail-biting rally in the ninth. Forget the sunflower seeds, pass the Maalox.

D’Aoust, a transfer from Long Beach City College, shrugged when asked to recap the frenetic moments in the ninth.

“That’s the way my games always are,” he said with a grin. “Always exciting.”