Matadors Hit Home Stretch, Beat Hornets : College baseball: Northridge starts crucial stand by rallying past Sacramento, 10-4.

So far, it’s been white uniforms or white flags.

Cal State Northridge is 14-4 at home, 13-2 when wearing white home jerseys.

The team’s black road outfits have led to a comparable mood. Northridge is 5-14 on the road, which includes a trio of three-game sweeps.

“I’m pretty sure the dimensions of the fields are pretty much the same,” Northridge Coach Bill Kernen said. “But for whatever reason, we don’t play worth a damn on the road.”

Good thing for Northridge that its most important stretch of the season includes 12 of the next 15 at home in Western Athletic Conference play.

Predictably, Northridge started the crucial run at home with an impressive 10-4 conference victory over Cal State Sacramento on Friday at Matador Field.

Northridge (19-18, 6-7) piled up 17 hits, didn’t commit an error and failed to collapse when Sacramento (17-20, 7-9) scored three times in the first inning.

Sacramento hammered Northridge in a three-game sweep up north last month.

“It was a quality game, all the way around,” Kernen said, sounding every bit like the father of 25 prodigal sons.

Northridge has one shot at reaching postseason play--winning the conference title. With a mark of 0-6 on the road in the WAC, it’s now or never.

“We basically have to win eight of the next nine to have any hope,” freshman outfielder Adam Kennedy said.

Hope didn’t spring eternal when Derek Brown hit a two-run homer off Northridge ace Rob Crabtree (5-5) in the first. Two batters later, Greg Heitz hit a solo shot for a 3-0 Hornet lead.

Sacramento added a run in the third to take a 4-2 lead--a sizable advantage considering Northridge scored more than four runs only twice in Crabtree’s nine previous starts.

“I just wanted to keep us in it until the offense kicked in,” Crabtree said.

Northridge started rolling in the bottom of the third, but it wasn’t a routine rally by any stretch.

After two-out singles by Chad Thornhill and Jonathan Campbell, Sacramento right-hander Willie Rivera hit Kevin Milligan on the back to load the bases.

Josh Smaler doubled to left to drive home two runs. Kennedy, who has hit safely in 18 of 19 games, singled on an 0-and-2 pitch to drive in two more as Northridge took a 6-4 lead.

By that time, Crabtree had sorted out his troubles and the junior right-hander snuffed out Sacramento with hardly a whimper.

“I guess the more I throw, the better the scouting report gets on me,” said Crabtree, who allowed nine hits, struck out eight and walked one.

Rivera (4-4) is a Burbank High graduate who shut out the Matadors at Northridge last year.

Crabtree usually throws his split-finger fastball 75% of the time, but after the third inning, he scaled back to around 60%--with about 100% more effectiveness.

“As soon as he started throwing three pitches, everything stopped,” Kernen said.

Sacramento had four singles over the final six innings.

Northridge put the game away in the sixth, sparked by third baseman Jason Shanahan’s fifth homer, a two-run shot. Campbell and Milligan added run-scoring singles.

Matador Notes

As expected, catcher Chris Paxton of Palmdale High signed a letter of intent with Northridge Friday. Paxton (6-foot-3, 195 pounds) is a four-year letterman. Northridge could have as many as five players on the roster next season with experience behind the plate. . . . Designated hitter Andy Shaw, who leads the WAC with 12 homers, 34 walks, a .798 slugging percentage and a .523 on-base percentage, might miss the entire Sacramento series after being hit by a pitch on the right elbow during Sunday’s game at Fresno State. . . . Shortstop Chad Thornhill had two hits Friday and is batting .415 in 13 WAC games, .303 overall. . . . Sweep or be swept? Northridge has played eight three-game series. In six of the eight, Northridge has either won three games or lost all three.