Long Night for CSUN in Long Beach

Not given to fretting over arcane rating formulas or the whims of a selection committee, Cal State Northridge is making a bid for an NCAA tournament berth simply by going about its business.

Business just took a turn for the worse.

Long Beach State lit up left-hander Erasmo Ramirez early and coasted to a 10-3 victory Tuesday night before 564 at Blair Field.

Northridge (36-18-1), an independent, might have used up its last wiggle room. Seven games remain and the Matadors probably must win them all.

“All we can do is play,” Coach Mike Batesole said. “Concerning ourselves with what the selection committee might do doesn’t help us.”

Until Tuesday, the Matadors had played well for a long stretch, winning 14 of 17. They had won eight of 10 against Big West Conference opponents and 11 of 13 against teams from the West Coast Conference.

But beating a ranked team on the road impresses the selection committee more than anything else, and the Matadors missed a chance. Long Beach (31-18) is ranked No. 20 and Northridge is No. 25 by Baseball America magazine.

Ramirez (9-4) pitched brilliantly against the 49ers four weeks ago, allowing one earned run in eight innings of a 12-4 Northridge victory. But he gave up six consecutive hits in a six-run 49er second inning and four hits to start the third before he was lifted.

Also making an about-face was Long Beach left-hander Daryl Grant (1-0), who last time the teams met walked the only three batters he faced and threw two wild pitches. This time, the freshman from Sacramento allowed a run and four hits in six innings, striking out seven.

Northridge opened the scoring in the second on consecutive singles by Chris MacMillan, Cesar Martinez and Jeremy Sickles, but the 49ers responded by batting around in the second and the third, taking a 10-1 lead.

Casey Martin’s double and a home run by Paul Day got Long Beach started in the second. By the time Ramirez was replaced by Nathan Rice with none out in the third, he had allowed hits to every 49er in the lineup except No. 3 batter Izzy Gonzalez.

The 49ers were quiet thereafter. Rice retired them in order in the fourth and fifth, Jason Cole did the same in the sixth and seventh, and Benny Flores in the eighth.

Northridge made noise only in the seventh. Andy Wilson’s single and Terrmel Sledge’s triple opened the inning against reliever Matt Montgomery, but Dan Pierce popped up and left-hander Mike Gallo came on to retire Adam Kennedy on a fly to right that scored Sledge but ended any chance of a big inning.

There were no surprises among the Long Beach pitchers, just surprising results. The last time the teams met, Northridge scored 10 runs in 2 2/3 innings against Grant, Montgomery and Gallo.

Matador notes

Northridge, which is batting .335, and Long Beach, at .320, are two of the top hitting teams in the nation. . . . Matador left fielder Terrmel Sledge stretched his hitting streak to 20 games with a triple and single. Sledge, the Matador’s leadoff hitter, is batting .391. . . . Northridge shortstop Adam Kennedy leads the nation with 114 hits and has about 20 more than his closest pursuer. Kennedy, a junior All-American, led the nation with 121 hits last season. . . . Matador catcher Jeremy Sickles, a freshman catcher from Long Beach Millikan High, had two hits, raising his average to .289.