Kempton Has Yet to Click : College baseball: CSUN pitcher still looking for form of a year ago as Matadors begin play in four-team tournament.

His picture is on the front of the Cal State Northridge baseball pocket schedule. A different photo of him graces a Matador refrigerator magnet. A third shot features him on the team media guide.

To be sure, senior right-hander Keven Kempton was expected to be the Northridge front man this season. So far, he has felt more like the caboose.

In each of the three aforementioned live-action photos, Kempton wears a look of grim determination. Lately, his performances have been grim. Say cheese for the camera? Happy, he isn’t.

“Should I be?” he said. “(My performance is) not even close to what it ought to be.”

He’s the cover boy who’s been driven for cover.

Kempton will be tested again this weekend when the Matadors (4-6) open play in the inaugural Gator Slug-Fest, a four-team, round-robin tournament at the University of Florida.

In three 1994 starts, Kempton is 0-2 with an unsightly earned-run average of 7.43. This after a 10-4 record and ERA of 3.99 last season, including a 4-2 record against nationally ranked teams.

Nobody is more perplexed than the pitcher himself.

“It’s very frustrating,” he said. “It’s baffling.”

Northridge will play today against sixth-ranked Oklahoma State (6-1), then faces No. 22 Florida (9-1) on Saturday and No. 16 Ohio State (0-0) in a doubleheader Sunday.

Kempton is expected to start against Florida, which routinely plays before crowds of 4,000--or about one ticket holder for each nagging voice in Kempton’s head.

Dozens of possible explanations for his slow start have crossed his mind. Kempton, 23, said his velocity sometimes has varied considerably from inning to inning. He had his arm poked and prodded by a doctor. Everything checked out.

“Am I too old?” he said. “What do you do?”

The Matadors have given Kempton ample run support. In his three starts, Northridge has scored 18 runs, more than enough by the pitcher’s reckoning.

“Five runs should never beat me,” he said. “Never. Five runs should be a walk in the park.”

At times, he’s walked the park. In 23 innings, he has walked 11 and allowed 29 hits, an average of 1.74 baserunners an inning. Opponents have banged out eight extra-base hits and are batting a cumulative .299.

Last season, Kempton was a different man altogether. In Western Athletic Conference West Division play, he ranked fifth in fewest walks per nine innings (2.36), sixth in opposition batting average (.272) and eighth in fewest hits (9.89) per nine innings.

Then again, the rest of the Matador staff--which was expected to carry the team this season--has been generous as well. The Matadors have a cumulative ERA of 5.92.

Senior right-hander Marco Contreras (1-2, 4.15 ERA) will start today’s game against Oklahoma State. Sophomore right-hander Jason Bell (2-0), who has not allowed an earned run in 11 innings, is expected to start for the Cowboys.

Contreras turned in the Matadors’ best outing of the season Saturday when he lost, 1-0, to third-ranked Cal State Fullerton.

The unranked Matadors, who have played three consecutive games against nationally ranked competition, appear to be the tournament underdogs. Oklahoma State enters play today with a batting average of .316, 10 home runs, 14 stolen bases and an ERA of 2.90. Florida is batting .323 with 11 homers, 16 stolen bases and an ERA of 2.47. Ohio State will be playing for the first time today against Florida.

The Matadors are batting .257 with five homers and six stolen bases. Freshman designated hitter Eric Gillespie, who is batting .300, has six of the team’s 19 extra-base hits and leads the team with 10 runs batted in.