Northridge Gains Victory, Believer

Another day, another victory, another convert.

Cal State Northridge won its 13th in a row, defeating Fresno State, 4-2, in a Western Athletic Conference game Friday at Matador Field.

The Bulldogs are two-time defending WAC champions, and Northridge (18-1, 4-0) views this three-game series as key to getting a jump in the standings.

Fresno State (6-11, 0-1) brought the go-ahead run to the plate in each of the last two innings and it took clutch relief pitching by Gary Stephenson and Benito Flores to nail down the victory, but winning the convert was even more impressive.

Bob Bennett, Fresno State coach of 28 seasons and winner of 1,054 games, watched his team struggle against left-hander Erasmo Ramirez, who took a no-hitter into the seventh.

Bennett also saw his top pitcher, former Simi Valley High right-hander Jeff Weaver, give up two home runs to Eric Gillespie and one to Robert Fick. And he watched Matador shortstop Adam Kennedy make three acrobatic plays.

Bennett left a believer.

“Fick is a real good catcher, Kennedy is a good shortstop and Gillespie, it seems like he’s been hurting us for 15 years,” he said. “Those three light up the ballclub. And with their two pitchers throwing the way they have been, this is a tough team.”

The pitchers would be Ramirez (5-0) and Robert Crabtree (6-0), who will pitch today. Ramirez lacked the pinpoint control that marked his previous two starts, but he survived giving up six walks because he allowed only four hits.

“He was missing but not by much,” Coach Mike Batesole said. “I wasn’t concerned.”

Ramirez had pitched two consecutive complete games and had not allowed a walk in 20 innings until issuing one in the first.

Northridge, ranked third in the nation, took a 3-0 lead in the third on back-to-back home runs by Gillespie and Fick. Gillespie’s was a two-run shot that scored Kennedy.

Gillespie added a solo home run in the fifth inning, his sixth of the season. Fick also doubled and singled to raise his team-high average to .479.

Fresno State finally got to Ramirez in the eighth. Pinch-hitter Chad Brown walked to lead off the inning and Matt Curtis followed with a bloop double down the right-field line.

Center fielder Kurt Airoso made a diving catch of a drive by Derek Feramisco that scored Brown, and Giuseppe Chiaramonte singled to score Curtis and chase Ramirez.

Stephenson got the next two hitters to ground out, but he exited in the ninth after a walk and an error put runners at first and third with one out. Flores earned his third save by getting a strikeout and a groundout.