Phillips Helps CSUN Rub UCLA the Wrong Way

Dan Phillips felt fortunate that bat boy Trevor Arroyo was in the Cal State Northridge baseball team’s dugout.

Arroyo, the younger brother of Northridge first baseman Tim Arroyo, rubbed Phillips’ helmet for luck before each at-bat.

The junior transfer from Pierce College responded with four hits to spark the Matadors over UCLA, 10-4, in a nonconference game Wednesday at Northridge.

Phillips, a third baseman who played at Chatsworth High and Cal State Fullerton, clubbed a three-run home run off of former Chaminade standout Tyler Dersom to highlight a six-run seventh inning that broke a 4-4 tie.

“He’s my little good-luck charm,” Phillips said of Arroyo. “That was big. I’ve gotta bring him to the away games too.”

After Phillips gave UCLA pitchers a workout, Bruin Coach Gary Adams put his players through another one afterward. Adams grilled the Bruins for nearly an hour, making them run sprints and practice pickoffs.

“Well, the players really didn’t get much of a workout during the game,” Adams said. “We couldn’t catch a fly ball, we couldn’t pick up the ball, we didn’t pitch and we didn’t hit.”

Northridge (11-9) relied on Phillips and Jason Gorman, who had two hits and two runs batted in. The Matadors pounded 12 hits against four pitchers.

UCLA (8-11) got two hits apiece from cleanup batter Chase Utley and Garrett Atkins.

Bill Scott, a sophomore outfielder from Alemany, had a run-scoring single for UCLA in the fourth inning.