Northridge’s Power Too Much for Titans

NORTHRIDGE — Cal State Northridge spoiled George Horton’s opening game as Cal State Fullerton’s head baseball coach with a 5-3 victory Tuesday, but Horton took it in stride.

“We worked hard to try to get a win,” Horton said, “but we couldn’t seem to sustain anything. This is a long season, though, and we’ll start over tomorrow trying to get better.”

Northridge (2-0) had only five hits to Fullerton’s 10, but four of them were bases-empty home runs. The outburst of power was typical of what the Matadors used a year ago in a 52-18 season. The Matadors ranked fourth in the nation in home runs in 1996 with 129, an average of almost two per game.

“This has always been a home run park,” Horton said of Matador Field. “And the difference in the game was that they got the ball into the air, and we hit it on a line.”

All four home runs came off Titan starter Scott Hild. He gave up a leadoff homer to Adam Kennedy in the first, one to Jose Miranda in the third and consecutive shots to Cesar Martinez and Brian Wagner leading off the fourth.

“You have to give Northridge credit,” Horton said. “Any time Scott made a mistake, they made him pay for it. We knew they were good fastball hitters, but the ones they hit caught too much of the middle of the plate. And Scott isn’t the kind of pitcher who can throw over the heart of the plate. His pitches were too fat today.”

But it wasn’t a total disaster for the Titans. Brian Tokarse, a transfer from Fullerton College, took over for Hild in the fifth and struck out six consecutive batters after an error and a walk. Tennessee transfer John Alkire pitched the next two innings and held Northridge hitless.

“I was real proud of Tokarse,” Horton said. “It looks like he’s going to be able to help us a lot, either in middle relief or somewhere else. He could push one of the starters. And I thought Alkire looked fine.”

Junior Erasmo Ramirez, who ranked fourth in the nation in victories last season with a 14-1 record, was the winning pitcher, giving up seven hits and three runs. Gary Stephenson then pitched four innings of scoreless relief.

The Titans scored twice in the third on doubles by Jerome Alviso and a single by Steve Chatham, who had three hits, and once in the fifth on designated hitter Ryan Fullerton’s RBI single. But the fifth inning ended with the bases loaded when Mike Lamb lined out.

The Titans threatened again in the ninth when Chatham doubled, but Aaron Rowand’s line drive to deep center was caught by Andy Wilson with his back to the plate.

“I got into it, but I didn’t get it up in the air,” Rowand said. “I didn’t think he was going to catch it, but he made a good play.”

Northridge Coach Mike Batesole regarded it as an important victory since the Matadors began the season unranked; Fullerton is 12th in one poll and ninth in the other.

“It’s important for us to take advantage when we play ranked teams,” Batesole said.

The Matadors are an independent this season after playing last year in the Western Athletic Conference championship and advancing to the West Regional.