CSUN Averages Soar as Wild Series Ends : College baseball: Matadors score 42 runs in last of three consecutive doubleheaders, only to split with Cal Poly SLO.

Jeremy Conrad, a seldom-used freshman outfielder at the end of the Cal State Northridge bench, made the third start of his college career Sunday.

The way baseballs were flying, he should have bribed his way into the batting order. All he did was nearly break the school single-game runs-batted in record.

“This was a great weekend to be a hitter,” Conrad said.

Conrad drove in seven runs and freshman Adam Kennedy added six as Northridge buried Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, 28-2, to salvage a doubleheader split in a Western Athletic Conference mash-fest at Matador Field.

Northridge (23-22, 10-10 in WAC play) came from behind, then from out front, to lose the wild first game, 16-14. The Matadors trailed by eight, rallied, then blew a four-run lead in the last two innings.

“I’m not sure we represented college baseball real well this weekend,” Northridge Coach Bill Kernen said, a slight grin crossing his face. “Did this really happen? This was a surreal deal.”

As far as pitchers were concerned, deal them out. Sunday marked the last of three consecutive doubleheaders under blustery conditions between the teams, who played seven-inning games by mutual agreement. Think of the wreckage if all had been nine-inning affairs:

Northridge scored 97 runs on 88 hits, yet won only four times. The teams combined for 29 homers, including 20 by the Matadors, who scored 14 or more runs four times.

Among the weekend curiosities: Northridge came within a run of blowing a 14-0 lead in one game, and rallied from an eight-run first-inning deficit in the first game Sunday, only to give it right back.

Side-arming right-hander Juan Velazquez took the loss in relief in the first game, then started the second and allowed two solo homers in five innings to pick up a victory.

Win Juan, lose Juan?

“I want to say one thing--I hate this field,” Velazquez said. “Half the runs I’ve given up this year are on wind-blown homers. Any ball thrown above the waist is a homer.”

Cal Poly (15-25, 8-13) wasted no time in rolling up numbers. The first nine Mustang batters reached base in the first off besieged right-hander Keven Kempton, who lasted two-thirds of an inning and gave up eight runs. Kempton’s earned-run average jumped to 11.10

“Weird as this is to say, that was no big deal,” Kernen said. “We knew we’d score in double figures, at least.”

At least? Anyone for triple?

Eric Gillespie homered and drove in four runs and red-hot Jonathan Campbell hit a three-run homer as Northridge roared back to take a 14-10 lead through five innings. Relievers Jason Vargas and Velazquez (2-2) couldn’t hold the lead, though.

In the seventh, nursing a 14-13 lead, Velazquez served up a solo homer to Bret Mueller. Cal Poly added two more runs and Northridge couldn’t answer in the bottom of the inning.

Conrad, from San Clemente, drove in seven runs in the second game with hits in his first four at-bats. That left him one RBI short of tying the school single-game record--which third baseman Jason Shanahan tied Saturday--but he stranded four baserunners in his last two at-bats.

“I thought I only had four or five RBIs,” Conrad said.

In a series like this, numbers add up quickly. Shanahan, who hit seven homers in the first four games, drove in two runs in the second game Sunday to give him 20 RBIs for the weekend. He entered the series with 30.

Kennedy, who has hit safely in 24 of 26 games, hit a grand slam in the second game and finished the day with 10 RBIs. Kennedy also homered in the first game, as did Campbell and Gillespie.

Campbell’s homer was his fifth of the series and 10th overall. He finished the series with 13 RBIs.

At one point in the second game, Northridge held a 15-0 lead. It marked the third time in the series that the Matadors led by a margin of 14-0 or more.

“I’m glad I’m not a pitcher,” Conrad said.

Matador Notes

Second baseman Cesar Martinez of Pierce College signed a letter of intent with Northridge on Sunday. Martinez is a graduate of Notre Dame High. Catcher Chris Paxton of Palmdale High signed last weekend.

Cal Poly right-hander R.J. Simone, a senior from Hart High and College of the Canyons, personified the struggles of the Mustangs’ staff, which has been hammered in its first year of NCAA Division I play. In two appearances against Northridge, Simone allowed 21 earned runs on 19 hits over 5 2/3 innings. He walked six.