CSUN Fattens Up on Hartford, 20-4 : College baseball: Howard hits for cycle, including two homers, as Matadors win fifth game in a row.

Like blood drippings tend to attract attention in shark-infested waters, there was a feeding frenzy Wednesday at Cal State Northridge.

A rout of the first order was taking place and everybody wanted a piece of the action, if not a piece of the hapless Hartford pitching staff.

“There was a fight at the bat rack,” outfielder Kevin Howard cracked.

If so, then Howard won by TKO. He also laid a serious whipping on the opposition.

The score book will show that Northridge hammered Hartford, 20-4, in a nonconference game at Matador Field to chalk up its fifth consecutive victory.

That’s only the official line. The secondary score was Howard 8, Hartford 4.

Howard, a junior outfielder from Fresno, was five for five, hit for the cycle, slammed two homers and drove in eight runs to tie a school record. Scott Richardson (1992) and Shawn Noonan (1975) are the only other Matadors who accomplished the feat.

“I was definitely due,” said Howard, who raised his batting average 42 points to .283.

There might have been another entry in the record book, if not for a surprising development in the Matador dugout. Right-hander Jason Vargas, a junior transfer from Delta College in Stockton, had rolled up six superlative innings as Northridge rolled to an 11-1 lead.

Shoot, hadn’t given up a hit to hapless Hartford (0-7).

Coach Bill Kernen lifted Vargas (1-0) after the sixth, figuring Northridge (14-10) might need his relief help in this weekend’s Western Athletic Conference series at Cal State Sacramento.

Kernen knew he would be second-guessed--especially because Matador starting pitchers had completed their past four starts and 14 of their previous 23. Heck, if there is a Northridge hallmark, it is the complete game.

“Yeah, I hated to take him out,” Kernen said. “But I really need him to be ready for the weekend. I would have loved to have seen him do it, but. . . .”

There has been one no-hitter in Northridge history, authored by Reggie Sells against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 1981. Vargas, who gave up an unearned run in the sixth and threw only 67 pitches, took the news of his removal like a good soldier.

“Whatever helps the team,” he said. “I was happy to have contributed and I hope I can contribute over the weekend.”

Howard, who assumed the team lead with five homers, belted a towering three-run blast down the line in left in the third to give Northridge a 6-0 lead. He led off the fifth with a solo homer and Tyler Nelson followed suit to give the Matadors their first back-to-back blasts of 1994.

Howard was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to force in a run in the seventh and added a three-run triple in the eighth.

In the past three games, Howard has 12 RBIs.

“I hope he keeps it up,” Kernen said. “I hope this is indicative of how he’s going.”

Make that going, going, gone.