Matadors Pull Victory No. 5 Out of Their Hats

Holy smokes.

Maybe it had something to do with having a guy named Ezequiel as the starting pitcher.

There had to be some divine intervention involved, because Cal State Northridge really had no business winning its fifth consecutive game on Saturday.

“We were lucky,” Coach Bill Kernen said. “Pure luck.”

The Matadors were out-hit, out-fielded and out-pitched, but somehow held on for a 6-5 nonconference victory over Loyola Marymount at Matador Field.

Northridge (5-0) had seven hits and left two runners on base. Loyola Marymount (2-3) stranded seven runners in the last three innings alone, but freshman reliever Carlos Velazco managed to hang on for a save.

He was the savior. Walk on water, he didn’t. Velazco was dog-paddling like crazy, in fact.

Velazco, a right-hander from Sylmar High, entered with one out in the seventh, runners on the corners and Northridge holding a 6-4 lead. Dicey stuff.

In his first college appearance last week, Velazco struck out the side with the bases loaded to escape a nasty mess. It was white-knuckle time again.

“I like (this role),” Velazco said. “It’s all you. It’s your game.”

Andy Collett was game, too. Collett whistled Velazco’s first pitch into center field for a single to bring the Lions to within 6-5, driving in his sixth run of the series.

Velazco did the bob and weave through the two final innings as well. He walked two and hit a batter to load the bases in the eighth, but retired pinch-hitter Jason Hueth on a ground ball to escape.

In the ninth, Velazco walked two more batters, and with two out got help from an unlikely source.

Velazco clipped Brett Campbell in the batting helmet with a 1-and-1 curveball, but plate umpire Paul Cohen ruled Campbell made no attempt to avoid the pitch.

“You don’t get that call every day,” Kernen said.

Campbell trudged back into the box. With the runners in motion, Campbell struck out on a chin-high, 3-and-2 fastball to end the game. It was Northridge’s second save in as many games, which Kernen half-jokingly called a “school record.”

The Matadors made a run at the team mark for baserunning boners, too. Northridge had two runners picked off first, one thrown out after rounding third and another caught stealing.

“We didn’t show up,” Kernen said. “The mood was lax.”

In 6 1/3 innings, Ezequiel (Zeke) Barrios, a right-hander from Fullerton College, allowed three earned runs on 10 hits--all singles. He struck out three and walked none.

“I think I still need a few more innings to decide if I’ll be all right,” Barrios said.

Northridge, which entered the game with a team average of .360, didn’t manage much offense against junior left-hander Ryan Graves (0-2). Northridge moved ahead, 4-1, in the third on a three-run double by Andy Shaw, but had three hits over the final five innings.

Chad Thornhill and Tyler Nelson also doubled in the inning, but the Lions scored two unearned runs in the sixth to pull even, 4-4.

Good fortune was just around the corner, though. With two out in the bottom of the sixth, Northridge chalked up a gift run after a two-base throwing error by third baseman Chad Ohira.

Kevin Milligan, a junior walk-on from Pierce College, followed with a pinch single to center to drive in what proved to be the decisive run.

Matador Notes

Eric Gillespie was one for three, is 13 for 19 overall and has hit in 13 of 14 games dating to 1994. . . . Kevin Milligan has started only two games, but is seven for 10. . . . Relievers Aaron D’Aoust and Carlos Velazco recorded saves on consecutive days against Loyola Marymount. In 1993 and 1994, the Matadors finished the season with two saves. In 1992, Northridge had no saves. The team’s single-season record (three) since joining NCAA Division I was set in 1991.