Northridge Takes a Whack at Conference Title, 19-5
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NORTHRIDGE — As it was in the beginning . . .
. . . is near the end, with the trio of Adam Kennedy, Robert Fick and Eric Gillespie hitting home runs and driving in 11 runs in Cal State Northridge’s 19-5 blowout of Cal State Sacramento at Matador Field on Friday.
The Matadors are one victory from clinching their first Western Athletic Conference Western Division championship. A Northridge victory or a loss by Fresno State today or tomorrow gives the Matadors (43-14, 19-9 in WAC play) the title.
Northridge had seven home runs among 18 hits against hapless Sacramento (10-41, 3-25), which entered the game with an earned-run average of 7.03.
Erasmo Ramirez (12-1) breezed through six innings for his seventh consecutive victory, exiting with an 11-2 lead.
Gillespie hit an opposite-field homer, his 19th, to give Northridge a 2-0 lead in the first inning. A three-run double by Kennedy, who had six runs batted in, and a two-run opposite-field homer by Fick padded the lead to 7-0 in the second.
Designated hitter David Stevenson led off the fifth with his fifth home run, and Kennedy hit a two-run homer, his 13th, later in the inning.
Northridge scored single runs in the fourth and seventh innings and exploded for seven in the eighth.
Fick homered off the scoreboard beyond the right-field wall, his 19th, to open the eighth, reserve Matt Anderson hit a three-run shot over the center-field fence and pitcher Evan Howland smacked a two-run home run.
Howland, a senior, batted only because every Matador position player had entered the game. He struck out in his only other at-bat this season--at Sacramento.
“They got me there, so I couldn’t wait to get them here,” said Howland. “I ended my career happy.”
Fick and Kennedy, both invited this week to try out for the U.S. Olympic Team, broke out of minor slumps. Fick’s batting average was dangerously close to dropping below .400 for the first time this season, but his three hits pulled him to .405.
Kennedy’s average had plummeted nearly 50 points in the past three weeks, but his four-hit performance raised it to .382. Fick and Kennedy are tied with a nation-leading 92 hits.
“Those were the best at-bats Kennedy has had in weeks, and Fick stayed down and through the ball and got backspin on [the home runs],” Coach Mike Batesole said.
Northridge also stole five bases. Fick had two to give him a team-high 16.
Matador Notes
Northridge’s Erasmo Ramirez, who struck out five and walked two, is one of five pitchers in the nation with 12 victories. Teammate Robert Crabtree (12-5), who pitches today, is another. . . . Billy Hoover, a freshman outfielder from Calabasas High, had a single in four at-bats for Sacramento State.
* OLYMPIC TRYOUTS: C14
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