Matadors Must Pull Out Stotts to Beat Nevada, 8-6

Tension was mounting in the eighth inning of Cal State Northridge’s baseball opener Friday against Nevada.

The Matadors loaded the bases and were trying to come back from a four-run deficit.

Up in the press box, Coach Mike Batesole’s 11-year-old daughter, Kassy, was squirming.

“I can’t look,” she said.

Freshman catcher Jason Allec drew a bases-loaded walk on a 3-and-2 count and junior second baseman Eric Horvat hit a run-scoring single.

Up came sophomore shortstop J.T. Stotts, the No. 9 batter. On an 0-and-2 pitch, Stotts lined a two-run single to center field to put the Matadors ahead for good in an 8-6 victory before 537 at Matador Field.

Stotts, the Matadors’ top batter last season with a .400 average, struck out, grounded out and flied out while committing an error earlier in the game.

No problem.

“I knew at some point I would have a chance to determine what would happen,” he said. “I didn’t let it bother me. I didn’t have my head down.

“[The pitcher] dropped in two curveballs in a row. I sat back, looked for another one and hit it hard.”

Eleven Northridge batters came to the plate in the eighth inning, and it all started with freshman Aaron McKenzie’s pinch double.

Later in the inning, McKenzie contributed an RBI single.

“Those weren’t freshmen at-bats,” Batesole said.

McKenzie, a third baseman last season at Righetti High in Santa Maria who was Northridge’s leading hitter in fall ball, was calm, composed and eager for his first crack at college pitching.

“I was waiting for the chance the whole game,” he said. “It was great.”

Seven of Northridge’s 10 starters were freshmen or sophomores.

They are part of Batesole’s two exceptional recruiting classes since the school briefly dropped baseball in the summer of 1997 and forced Batesole to start from scratch.

“We have to keep giving these young kids chances like this,” Batesole said.

Nevada scored all of its runs in the fourth off Mike Frick, who gave up home runs to Don Price and Alex Rangel to start the inning.

The Wolf Pack was in control with right-hander Chad Qualls, 11-3 last season, who held the Matadors to two runs on five hits with eight strikeouts through six innings.

Tim Arroyo’s run-scoring single in the first and Horvat’s home run in the fifth accounted for Northridge’s early runs.

But relievers Nick Aiello, George Moran and Gary Hayes couldn’t hold the lead in the eighth, when Moran walked three consecutive batters.

Crucial to the Matadors’ victory was 2 2/3 innings of shutout relief pitching by Merrill Dunn, a former North Hollywood High and Pierce College right-hander.

Left-hander Andy Davidson got a save with two strikeouts in the ninth.

“Everything is exciting on the first day and to come out and play a good ballgame makes it extra nice,” Batesole said.

Even his daughter was smiling afterward.

When told she was a little nervous in the decisive eighth, Batesole said, “So was I.”

It was a big day for former Hart High players Stotts, Horvat and Davidson.

“That was awesome,” said assistant coach Bud Murray, a former Hart coach. “There should be more of them here.”

Matt Rainer, from Royal High, will pitch for Nevada today in the second of a three-game series. His twin Mike, pitches for Northridge.