Northridge Gets a Jump on Riverside

Warm-up, dress rehearsal, a preview of things to come.

Call it what you want, Cal State Northridge’s 6-5 nonconference victory over UC Riverside on Wednesday at Matador Field might have been an indicator of a rivalry to develop when both schools join the Big West Conference next season.

Coach Mike Batesole of Northridge certainly liked what he saw--an eighth-inning game-deciding double by J.T. Stotts and a gutsy ninth-inning relief performance by sophomore Andy Davidson.

“Our relievers are doing the job,” Batesole said. “They got a lot of ground balls.”

Davidson replaced Ivan Hernandez (2-2) with none out in the ninth and runners at first and second. He closed the door with two strikeouts and a fly ball to center field.

It was the third save for Davidson, a former Hart High standout and one of six pitchers for Northridge (13-23), which held the Highlanders to eight hits.

The Matadors’ young staff figures to see a lot of Riverside over the next few seasons--not to mention three more games against the Highlanders (23-11) this season.

Junior left-hander Bobby Graves, a 1997 Hart graduate and transfer from Oklahoma, made the most of his first start for Northridge, scattering five hits in five innings and exiting with a 4-2 lead.

“We expected Bobby to come in and be a starter,” Batesole said. “We’ve brought him along slowly and he’s had a lot of things to go through. He’s one of the guys we expect to give us this kind of performance.”

Graves fell behind, 2-1, after surrendering a two-run home run to Gilbert Pulido in the third. He struck out three and walked two.

“We’ve been struggling lately with our starters,” Graves said. “[Batesole] wanted to see what I can do. I wasn’t really feeling that good. I just tried to keep us close.”

Northridge roughed up starter Chad Spiker in the fifth, scoring three runs on back-to-back home runs by Bill Murphy and Tim Arroyo.

Murphy’s blast with Tim Coltey aboard cleared the 400-foot sign in center field. Arroyo hit Spiker’s first pitch over the left-center-field wall.

The home runs were the third of the season for Murphy and Arroyo. Murphy had two hits, Arroyo three.

Ryan McDermott replaced Graves to begin the sixth and allowed a run-scoring double to Pulido that pulled the Highlanders to within 4-3.

Heath Gadient’s two-out single in the seventh drove in Murphy to give Northridge a 5-3 lead. But the Highlanders pulled even in the eighth on Jacob Thibodeau’s two-run double off Josh Goldberg.

In the Northridge half of the eighth, Jason Gorman led off with a single, took second on a sacrifice and scored on Stotts’ drive to right-center.

Hernandez recorded the final out in the eighth. In the ninth, he allowed a leadoff walk to Adam Seuss and hit Jimmy Anderson.

Enter Davidson for his 11th relief appearance.

“I like to start,” Davidson said. “[Batesole] gave me a couple of starts in a row. But I also like the tough job [of relieving].

Singles by Murphy and Arroyo in the first set up Northridge’s first run. Aaron McKenzie’s one-out single drove in Murphy.