Loe and Behold, Northridge Defeats Sacramento

Kameron Loe made his pitch Friday to become a member of the Cal State Northridge starting rotation--while working as a reliever.

Loe, a 6-foot-8 sophomore right-hander from Granada Hills High, struck out seven in five innings and Northridge came from behind to defeat Cal State Sacramento, 6-3, in a nonconference game at Matador Field.

The game was incorrectly reported in Friday’s edition of The Times as a Big West Conference opener. Although Northridge (20-10) and Sacramento (15-15) are Big West members, they will not meet in conference play until May 11.

Northridge opens Big West play Friday at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

Loe (2-0), making his eighth appearance, relieved starter Andy Davidson to begin the third inning and allowed one run and three hits.

Four of Loe’s appearances have been in relief. He has 21 strikeouts and five walks in 25 innings.

“Wherever they want me, I just like getting out there,” Loe said. “I’ll go out there and do my job. But I want to be a starter.”

Davidson, a junior left-hander and staff ace, was tagged in the first inning for a run-scoring single by Joe Evans and a run-scoring double by Dave Lusk.

Coach Mike Batesole turned to Loe when it became apparent Davidson wasn’t sharp.

“That wasn’t the way we expected it to happen,” Batesole said. “We were hoping to give Andy the ball and let him go. But it didn’t happen [Friday].

“Loe looked great. He came in and got it done.”

Loe ranks behind Davidson, Bill Murphy and Craig Mosher among Matador starters. Loe will log his share of innings regardless, Batesole said.

“The best thing that Kameron does is that he comes right at you and throws strikes,” Batesole said. “Every day, no matter what, you can count on him throwing strikes.”

Loe surrendered a solo home run to Carlos Morales in the sixth inning that cut the Matadors’ lead to 6-3.

Northridge took a 4-2 lead with a four-run second that included a two-run single by Jeremy Hanson and run-scoring singles by Ryan Haag and Eric Verbryke.

Verbryke’s grounder scored a run and Tim Arroyo hit a run-scoring single in the fourth for Northridge.

Loe was replaced by Ryan McDermott to begin the eighth. Mike Frick recorded the final out of the eighth and stranded runners at first and second in the ninth to record his sixth save.

Sacramento managed only two walks, off Davidson and McDermott.

“You walk only two guys, you’re going to win a lot of games,” Batesole said.