AROUND THE HORN / FOCUS ON AREA BASEBALL AND SOFTBALL : CSUN Just Can’t Find Daylight

Maybe Cal State Northridge took this spring-forward, fall-back stuff a little too seriously.

Daylight Savings Time?

Each time Northridge saw daylight offensively, timely hits were nowhere to be found. The game could not be saved.

Northridge took an early two-run lead Saturday but did little thereafter and lost to 26th-ranked San Diego State, 7-2, in a Western Athletic Conference baseball game at Matador Field.

“Some games, you just get beat no matter what you do,” Northridge catcher Robert Fick said.

Northridge (17-14, 4-4) did plenty to keep the heat on the Aztecs, who never trailed after taking a 3-2 lead in the fifth. Northridge had at least two runners on base over each of the last five innings, but scored not a run.

It wasn’t for lack of trying. Northridge bunted, swung from the heels and even tried a slash bunt, but nothing worked.

The Matadors were trailing by two runs with none out and runners at first and second in the sixth when Chad Thornhill and Kevin Milligan bunted into forceouts, and Josh Smaler flied out to right.

In an identical situation in the eighth, Thornhill popped out to second, followed by groundouts by Jonathan Campbell and Smaler. In the ninth, Grant Hohman took a called third strike from reliever Rey Neder with the bases loaded to end it.

Northridge stranded 13 baserunners, marking the sixth time in eight games the Matadors have marooned 11 or more.

“We’re still not clutching up with runners on,” Northridge Coach Bill Kernen said. “Part of it is a function of speed--we don’t have any. So we have to get it done with hits.”

Not many of those, either. Northridge jumped on Mark Harriger for two runs in the first, but the offense slowed to a crawl when left-hander Greg Winkelman relieved in the third.

Winkelman (4-3) pitched five innings of two-hit ball while San Diego State (20-11, 7-4) claimed the lead from Northridge starter John Najar.

Northridge had two hits in the first inning and three over the next eight.

“(Winkelman) pretty much kicked our butts,” Kernen said. “He’s the story of the game. We didn’t do much of anything with him.”

The Matadors’ toughest luck came in the seventh, when Fick stepped in with runners at first and second and Northridge trailing, 4-2. Fick pulled a 2-and-1 pitch down the right-field line that hooked foul by three feet, then ripped a bullet to first baseman Jim Rushford, who doubled Eric Gillespie off second for the third out.

“If that ball goes through, it’s a whole new ballgame,” said designated hitter Andy Shaw, who was zero for one and walked four times. “We just needed a bleeder, or somebody to hit one in the gap somewhere.”

Northridge was one for 13 with runners in scoring position. A trio of San Diego State pitchers combined to walk 11 batters to keep Northridge in the hunt.

Najar (4-3) allowed three earned runs on eight hits over seven innings. He walked six, hit a batter and struck out four.

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Matador Notes

San Diego State first baseman Travis Lee, who injured a knee in a collision with a teammate early last week, will miss the series. Lee was a freshman All-American last season and is one of the top players on the West Coast. He could be out from one to three weeks. . . . Northridge freshman outfielder Adam Kennedy singled in the first inning to extend his hitting streak to 13 games, a team high this season.

Bryan Howland, 49, father of Northridge reliever Evan Howland, is expected to be released today or Monday from a hospital in Hollywood. Howland was scheduled to have angioplasty performed Wednesday, but a problem developed with an artery during the procedure and he ended up having emergency triple-bypass surgery.

Entering today’s game, only three active Northridge pitchers have earned-run averages under 5.00: Rob Crabtree (3.80), Juan Velazquez (4.28) and John Najar (4.33). Five have ERAs of 7.90 or higher.