Batesole Primary Reason for CSUN’s Early Campaign Blitz

Should Cal State Northridge dump its interim baseball coach after the season in favor of someone with Steve Forbes-like name recognition, Bob Dole-like experience or Pat Buchanan-like media savvy, perhaps another job awaits him. . . .

Mike Batesole for president!

Why not? At least he has momentum.

Not to mention a ready-made campaign slogan: Give Me a Month, I’ll Turn This Thing Around.

And look how his team has climbed in the polls.

Northridge (12-1) began the season unranked and picked to finish fourth in the Western Athletic Conference, yet in two weeks it has leaped to No. 10 in the Collegiate Baseball rankings and to No. 17 in the Baseball America poll.

The Matadors have more victories than any team in the nation, are 8-0 at home and attendance has grown steadily. Their only loss came in the finale of a three-game series played in sub-freezing temperatures at Texas.

Not a bad baby-sitting job.

Batesole, 31, a former Dodger minor leaguer with no head-coaching experience at any level, was handed the position because he was handy. The school wanted to buy time to conduct an exhaustive search for a successor to Bill Kernen, and Batesole had been Kernen’s assistant for two seasons.

Despite the lack of security, Batesole has exhibited a calm demeanor and aggressive philosophy in turning around a program that ended last season anxiety-ridden and lacking direction.

The proper mental state for playing baseball is combining relaxation with concentration, not an easy task. Last year, Kernen was so uptight his players couldn’t concentrate.

Kernen had taken the program to prominence in the early 1990s but became increasingly detached during back-to-back losing seasons and resigned to pursue a career as a playwright.

Batesole’s script is decidedly different.

His players consider him as much a friend as a guiding hand. Sometimes they take advantage of the closeness, but so far mutual respect has won out.

Mistakes are dealt with privately and he almost never raises his voice during games. In baseball terms, he lets them play. In an impressive gesture of trust, Batesole allows his catcher, Robert Fick, to call the pitches.

“One thing I believe in strongly is that practice is the place to coach and games are the place to play,” Batesole said. “I give it everything on practice days and in games I let them go out there and do it.

“Kids really enjoy that because on game day, there isn’t a lot of pressure. No one is looking over their shoulder. I’ve done my yelling the previous two days in practice.”

In contrast to Batesole’s passive demeanor are his aggressive moves on the field. He changes pitchers at double Kernen’s rate and orders stolen bases at five times Kernen’s rate.

Ten players have stolen bases and the Matadors have 28 in 32 attempts after stealing 32 all of last season. As an assistant, Batesole called the offense, but he has adapted to the current personnel, a group with more speed and less power.

The pitchers have flourished for several reasons. They have been held to reasonable pitch counts early in the season and are replaced when tiring. No one has been left on the mound long enough to be shelled.

Staff objectives are not revolutionary, but they are fundamentally sound. Matador pitchers have consistently gotten the leadoff hitter out, the team strikeout-to-walk ratio is 108-33 and the earned-run average is 2.41.

Although Northridge averages nearly two errors a game, the defense has been outstanding at times.

Sophomore Adam Kennedy is blossoming into an All-American-caliber shortstop in his first college season at the position. Besides deftly handling the pitchers, Fick has not allowed a passed ball.

The Matadors are batting .296 with a .440 on-base percentage and holding opponents to a .200 average and .273 on-base percentage. Northridge has outscored its opposition, 115-49.

Impressive stuff, especially considering the Matadors are less concerned with statistics than with doing little things that don’t show up in the box score.

“This team, in particular, really enjoys giving of themselves,” Batesole said. “You see when a guy gets back to the dugout after moving a runner over, he’ll get more high-fives than the guy who knocks in the run.”

There have been plenty of congratulations to go around so far. But the Matadors are not patting themselves on the back quite yet.

Western Athletic Conference play begins this weekend. In addition, midseason games against Cal State Fullerton, USC, Pepperdine, Long Beach State and others await.

Even with the great start, navigating this team into the regional playoffs would be a significant accomplishment.

That won’t get Batesole elected president. But it might get him a permanent job.