Pomona Left-Hander Puts Spin on CSUN’s Waltz Through CCAA

Cal State Northridge’s drive toward the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. baseball title ran into a curve it couldn’t handle Wednesday.

Left-hander Eric Gomez found the first-place Matadors unable to hit a slow curve--or any off-speed pitch for that matter--and pitched Cal Poly Pomona to a 5-3 victory at Northridge.

“We had trouble with his pitching style,” Northridge Coach Bill Kernen said. “We’ve faced off-speed pitchers before, but not a left-hander like that. It did throw us off.”

Gomez, who mixed an occasional fastball with his off-speed pitches, had Northridge fooled through six innings but left after walking two batters to lead off the seventh. He allowed two runs on three hits and struck out five to even his record at 1-1.

“He threw a fastball that wasn’t that fast,” Northridge catcher Rusty McLain said. “But the way he threw his curveball, it made his other pitches look faster. Some guys were getting in a groove hitting his curveball and then he would sneak a fastball by you.”

What made things especially frustrating for Northridge batters was trying to avoid swinging at bad pitches. Gomez walked seven and had stretches in which he threw six, seven and eight consecutive balls.

“I get overly excited,” Gomez said. “It either works for me or against me. . . . I think the umpire wanted to fight me after the game because I showed him up once too often. A couple times I was mad at myself and he thought I was arguing his call.”

Kernen gave a starters-only pep talk near home plate in the seventh with Northridge trailing, 4-1. The Matadors responded with two walks to lead off the inning and scored a run on Denny Vigo’s two-out single off reliever Daniel Mead.

“That ball looked big and slow and our batters were really trying to put a charge into it instead of hitting the ball to the opposite field,” Kernen said. “We finally made some adjustments and they sensed it and took Gomez out.”

Northridge added a run in the eighth on a run-scoring groundout by Ted Weisfuss that cut the deficit to 4-3. But Pomona’s Michael Baker hit a leadoff home run in the ninth and the Matadors were unable to score off Mead and Max Hardy, who earned the save.

The loss was surprising in that Pomona has a dismal record and Northridge had won its first three conference games, including a 9-8 win at Pomona on Tuesday. The Broncos are 3-12 overall, 2-3 in CCAA.

Besides being unable to generate rallies against Gomez, the Matadors (10-2, 3-1) let the game roll through their hands in the second inning. Pomona scored two unearned runs on three errors to take a 3-0 lead. Vigo made the most costly errors at third base when he bobbled a ground ball and threw wildly to first.

Losing pitcher Fili Martinez (1-2) maintained his composure despite the mistakes and went the distance. Martinez gave up three earned runs on seven hits and one walk. His only major mistakes were allowing a run-scoring triple by Dan Fouts in the first and Baker’s home run.

“Our defense and our pitching is what got us to this point,” Kernen said. “They’re games where we make mistakes but we have been able to overcome them. I guess it doesn’t always happen.

Left-fielder Craig Clayton went two for five and drove in Northridge’s first run on a groundout.