Matadors Show Hitting Prowess to The Master’s

The Cal State Northridge and The Master’s College baseball teams knew what they needed to do when they met in a nonconference game on Friday.

The difference was that the Matadors did it, the Mustangs did not.

Adam Kennedy homered for the fourth consecutive game and the Matadors scored 10 runs in the second inning in a 16-4 victory at Northridge.

Coach Mike Batesole, upset that the Matadors (4-0) lost focus in a 20-2 victory over Cal State Los Angeles on Wednesday, was pleased with this performance.

“It’s hard to turn [the focus] on and off,” Batesole said. “We have to leave it on the whole time. We can turn it off in June.

“It’s easy for me to talk about doing that but the guys knew they had to do it, they were prepared to do it and then they went out and did it.”

The Mustangs (0-3) figured they would need to keep the game close, but the second inning was too much to overcome.

“That was a huge gap to fill,” Mustangs’ Coach Monte Brooks said of the 11-0 deficit after two innings. “It’s tough to get back in the game when you don’t have a lot of [power] in your arsenal.”

The Matadors showed their power. They hit four home runs for the third consecutive game and had 11 extra-base hits.

Brian Wagner and Ryan Hurd led off the second inning with home runs and the Matadors strung together six one-out hits. Every player had at least one hit in the inning.

Kennedy, who also had two doubles, had three runs batted in to increase his team-leading total to nine. He has eight hits in 17 at-bats (.471 batting average), including four home runs and three doubles.

Northridge starter Jesse Yeomans (1-0) pitched five innings, allowing two runs and striking out five.

Mustang right fielder Jim Young had two hits and three RBIs, including a two-run home run in the fifth.

Matador Notes

Royal High graduates Adrian Mendoza and Matt Pitstick, both freshmen, collected their first hits as Matadors and both kept the balls. “All the guys were teasing us,” Pitstick said. . . . Mike McNeely’s home run was his first hit as a Matador. . . . Pitcher Britt Cornwell, a sophomore transfer, made his Matador debut against his former team. . . . Second baseman Cesar Martinez and Kennedy, the shortstop, flip-flopped positions for the third and fourth innings. “That keeps us in the game mentally,” Kennedy said.