Matodors Deserve a Chance

There will be no staring at a television screen while nervously chewing chips in a Mexican restaurant. No holding of breath. No crossing of fingers.

Hopes can’t be dashed if they aren’t raised to begin with, right?

When the 48-team NCAA baseball regional pairings are announced at noon Monday on ESPN, Cal State Northridge expects to be left out.

Say it ain’t so.

The Matadors won 25 of their last 27 games to finish with a 37-19 record that included four victories over ranked opponents. A team administrators did their best to extinguish last summer beat all odds to become consistent winners.

Surely that counts for something.

“Some of the guys say we’ll make it, but in the back of their minds they know the chances are slim and none,” assistant Grant Hohman said.

Hohman, the team’s first baseman in 1996 and an assistant last year, knows the disappointment of eagerly anticipating recognition from the NCAA.

He and his teammates didn’t exactly burst into cheers at being seeded No. 5 in the six-team West regional two years ago. The Matadors had earned an automatic berth by winning the Western Athletic Conference championship and led the nation in victories.

And last season the Matadors nearly burst into tears after being snubbed despite a 42-20-1 record.

Both times, the team gathered at a restaurant to watch the announcement on television.

This year?

“We are doing nothing,” Hohman said. “Zip.”

The Matadors are well-versed in the reasons the selection committee probably will choose to exclude them: Ten of their victories came against non-Division I opponents, the team’s lack of conference affiliation compromised its strength of schedule, and the west is flooded with teams who played stronger schedules and boast winning records.

A pecking order of deserving teams from the west will be compiled Friday by an NCAA subcommittee comprised of Nevada Las Vegas Coach Rod Soesbe, Long Beach State Coach Dave Snow, Fresno State assistant Mike Rupcich, USC Coach Mike Gillespie, Cal State Fullerton Athletic Director John Easterbrook, San Diego Coach John Cunningham and New Mexico Coach Rick Alday.

If history is a guide, they will look favorably on teams from their own conferences.

But this is one year and one unique set of circumstances that should prompt the NCAA to set aside its formulas and politics and include Northridge in the postseason dance.

Reasons, from the statistical to the emotional, are plentiful:

* Northridge would not have fielded a team at all had administrators had their way. The program was cut in June and reinstated with state bailout money in August, forcing Coach Mike Batesole to frantically piece together a roster and schedule.

The NCAA can send a message that baseball should not be cut when budgets get tight. The committee--primarily made up of coaches--should protect its own by saluting Northridge for bouncing back.

* Given the players Northridge lost during the period of uncertainty, it’s amazing the team won even 10 games. Ace left-handers Benny Flores and Erasmo Ramirez bolted to Cal State Fullerton at the first sign of trouble, outfielder Terrmel Sledge left for Long Beach State soon thereafter, Arkansas standout right-hander Denny Walling and Loyola Marymount freshman right-hander Mike Schultz were Matador recruits who changed plans.

Flores and Ramirez both are 10-game winners, Sledge was Big West player of month of April, Walling is an All-American candidate who defeated defending national champion Louisiana State last week, and Schultz was West Coast Conference pitcher of the year for Loyola Marymount.

Put them in Matador uniforms and Northridge might be top 10 material.

* Batesole’s efforts earned him coach of the year honors from Collegiate Baseball magazine. What’s a postseason without the nation’s top coach?

* The Matadors’ two losses since March 8 each were by one run during a four-game series at Kansas State. Batesole won’t whine about umpires, but several players privately said calls were unbelievably one-sided throughout the series.

That’s how close Northridge is to ending the regular season with a 27-game winning streak.

* Northridge’s winning percentage against Division I opponents is .609, which should be enough to offset the 10 victories against non-Division I teams.

* The Matadors have history on their side. In the 1996 West regional, Northridge won four games and eliminated host and No. 1-seeded Stanford before losing the final to Florida State.

* Northridge is batting .318 and has six players with at least 10 home runs. Second baseman Nakia Hill is an All-American candidate after batting .414 with 15 homers and left-handed pitcher Jose Vasquez is 10-5 with a 3.84 earned-run average.

*

In rare moments, Batesole allows himself to be optimistic.

“If you look at all the factors, it’s not so much of a stretch,” he said.

Half the berths are automatic, awarded to conference champions and the winners of play-ins. That leaves 24 at-large openings.

In the west, conference champions Stanford, Loyola Marymount and Rice earned automatic bids. Fullerton and Long Beach State played late Saturday to determine another champion. USC (39-14), Arizona State (34-21), Washington (39-15) and Oregon State (35-14) are ranked in the top 25 and considered locks.

Besides Northridge, teams on the bubble include the Long Beach/Fullerton loser, Nevada (31-21), Arizona (33-23) and Pepperdine (32-22). The Matadors defeated Long Beach and Nevada, but were a combined 0-5 against Arizona and Pepperdine.

If it comes down to a toss-up, toss a bid the Matadors’ way. This season, they credited college baseball in ways other teams can only imagine.

The Matadors proved that baseball belongs at Northridge, even down to their last at-bat when senior Mike McNeely and freshman Eric Horvat homered to highlight a five-run rally in a victory over Southern Utah.

Fitting, because no Northridge team ever was stronger at the finish.

“These guys will always be remembered here, because they built something when no one believed in them or the program,” Batesole said. “And I believe in my heart that there are not 48 better teams in the country.”