Northridge, in Upward Swing, Aims to Pause for Capitol Gains

Teams heading in opposite directions met Wednesday at Cal State Northridge. Neither changed course.

Northridge remained in the fast lane with a 15-0 nonconference victory while Loyola Marymount continued its descent into baseball oblivion.

Keeping its eyes on the road like any good driver, Northridge wanted only to talk about its three-game series at Cal State Sacramento this weekend. The Hornets are 0-7 in Western Athletic Conference play, but last season swept the Matadors at CSUN.

“Sac State has taken it to us before, so we have some business to take care of up there,” Coach Mike Batesole said. “There wasn’t going to be a letdown [against Loyola].”

Northridge (25-6) pounded out 19 hits, including five by Robert Fick, who stretched his hitting streak to 24 games. Adam Kennedy and Eric Gillespie, who along with Fick are batting over .400, each had three hits.

Loyola (6-22) limped in with a team earned-run average of 9.21 and left at 9.42, this being the 15th time the Lions have allowed 10 or more runs.

The five pitchers who threw against the Matadors entered the game with ERAs of 11.65, 10.45, 7.00, 6.75 and 4.76. One improved his mark. Waiting in the bullpen were guys with ERAs of 16.20, 16.68, 63.00 and 99.00.

Northridge used five pitchers. Gary Stephenson struck out six in three innings and lowered his ERA to 1.59. Left-hander Nathan Rice (1-1) made his most-effective stint of the season over the next three innings and Juan Velazquez, Evan Howland and Andrew Settle each pitched one inning.

Loyola had nine hits, including two doubles, but stranded 11 runners.

The Matadors scored two runs in the first on hits by Kennedy, Fick, Gillespie and Grant Hohman, and added three in the second on RBI singles by Ryan Hurd and Kennedy and a double by Fick.

Jeremy Conrad led off the fourth with a home run and one out later Kennedy hit his 10th. With two out, Fick doubled and scored on Gillespie’s single to make it 8-0.

Conrad and Hurd scored in the fifth on Fick’s fourth hit, a single. Fick hit his third double during a five-run seventh that also included a home run by Hurd and singles by Gillespie and Cesar Martinez.

Fick, whose five hits tied a school record shared by many, was on deck when the Matadors were retired in the eighth.

Matador Notes

Loyola Marymount Coach Jody Robinson was a Northridge assistant in 1991 when the Matadors were 44-18-1 and Western Regional runners-up. “This team seems to have the same hunger as our ’91 team,” he said. “They don’t waste an at-bat. This was a blowout and they kept their concentration.”. . . Robert Fick improved his batting average to .476, Eric Gillespie is batting .409 and Adam Kennedy is at .408.