CSUN Homers Make Crabtree a Winner, 9-6

Rob Crabtree seemed headed toward an early shower, which had nothing to do with some malfunctioning plumbing in left field.

In the bottom of the second inning Friday, the sprinkler system at Matador Field kicked in, delaying the game for 15 minutes. Cal State Northridge’s starting pitcher experienced a deluge of his own in the top of the third, when San Diego State whacked him around for five runs.

“I’m just glad they stuck with me,” Crabtree said.

He stuck it to the Aztecs, eventually. Northridge hit four home runs and erased a five-run deficit to win, 9-6, in a key Western Athletic Conference game.

Crabtree (4-4) threw 59 pitches, committed an error and walked four batters in the horrific third. He had walked 12 in the previous 64 innings. San Diego State swiped four bases and sent 11 batters to the plate.

“I was just trying to hang on,” Crabtree said.

He hung in until San Diego State hung some pitches. Northridge (17-13, 4-3 in WAC play) closed to within 6-3 on a two-run home run by freshman Adam Kennedy in the fifth. Kennedy has hit safely in 12 consecutive games, a team season-high, and has multiple hits in the eight of the past 10 games.

The long-ball barrage had barely begun. Andy Shaw followed two batters later with a two-run shot to center, his second homer of the game and 10th of the season. No Northridge player hit more than nine in 1994. Before the rally ended, Jason Shanahanscored on an infield error to tie the score, 6-6.

Crabtree sensed the momentum change. Over the last four innings, he gave up three of his 11 hits. He somehow had enough to finish--he struck out eight and walked four--despite throwing 169 pitches.

“That’s my max,” he said.

Northridge put it away in the sixth with more tape-measure fireworks. With a runner on second and two out, San Diego State (19-11, 6-4) intentionally walked Shaw, the reigning WAC player of the week, bringing catcher Robert Fick to the plate.

“I wouldn’t have pitched to him either,” Fick said.

Last week against Hawaii, with the bases loaded and the game on the line in the bottom of the ninth, Fick struck out on a 3-and-2 pitch.

“Yeah, but that guy punched me out on a damn good pitch,” Fick said.

This time, Fick punched one out of the yard. Freshman left-hander Matt Seiler threw a change-up and Fick smashed a three-run homer to right-center, giving Northridge a 9-6 lead.

It completed a tale of two teams.

“This was like the movies,” Northridge Coach Bill Kernen said. “We were the Bad News Bears the first half of the game and a different team in the second.

“I asked these guys, ‘As much fun as you looked like you were having in the second half, don’t you want to feel like this all the time?’ ”