COLE AN UNLIKELY HERO : UNPREDICTABLE CSUN PITCHER COMES THROUGH.Byline: Kevin Acee Daily News Staff Writer Cal State Northridge pitching coach Dan Cowgill told Jason Cole he needed three or four innings from him Friday. After the fourth inning, he told Cole to try for another. After five, the same thing. After six: ``Keep going, Jason.'' After the seventh, with Cole's pitch count at just 80, Cowgill told him to forget it and ``just finish this thing.'' Cole, a junior right-hander who has battled personal demons Demons See also devil; evil; ghosts; hell; spirits and spiritualism. ademonist one who denies the existence of the devil or demons. bogyism, bogeyism recognition of the existence of demons and goblins. and started just five games this season, did just that. He held an outmatched Northeastern Illinois team to six hits and picked up Northridge's first victory 18-1 in the NCAA NCAA abbr. National Collegiate Athletic Association West Regional at Sunken Diamond Sunken Diamond is a baseball stadium in Stanford, California. It hosts the Stanford University Cardinal college baseball team. The stadium holds 4,000 people and was built in 1931. . ``That's what we really needed was a complete game,'' Matadors coach Mike Batesole said. ``. . . Now our pitching is in good shape, better than we thought it would be.'' With their next game today at 3 p.m. against either Stanford or Mississippi State, the Matadors not only have regular starters Erasmo Ramirez Erasmo Ramírez (born April 29, 1976 in Santa Ana, California) is a left-handed relief pitcher in the Florida Marlins organization of Major League Baseball. His nickname is "The Eraser". (13-1, 3.13 ERA) and Benito Flores Flores, town, Guatemala Flores (flōrəs), town (1990 est. pop. 2,200), capital of Petén department, N Guatemala. Flores was built on an island in the southern part of Lake Petén Itzá and on the site of the (6-2, 3.79) ready, they have a full bullpen that is fresh. Robert Crabtree, who started the 10-5 loss to Stanford in the first round Thursday, could pitch Sunday if the Matadors are still alive. Cowgill said after the game that the opponent would dictate who - left-handers Ramirez or Flores or righty right·y Informal n. pl. right·ies 1. A right-handed person. 2. An advocate or member of the political right. adv. Gary Stephenson - would start today. But ``he'd have to talk me out of throwing 'Mo,'' Batesole said. Cowgill was just grateful Thursday's gamble on the unpredictable Cole instead of a proven arm worked. ``I'm a bad coach if we don't get Ramirez and Flores a start in this deal,'' the always self-deprecating Cowgill said. ``But it may work out because Cole did it.'' Cole, who learned an hour before the game of his impending im·pend intr.v. im·pend·ed, im·pend·ing, im·pends 1. To be about to occur: Her retirement is impending. 2. start, made Cowgill and Batesole look like geniuses. Of his 93 pitches, 60 were strikes. With his changeup and fastball working as well as they have since February, he got six of nine leadoff batters out, and he threw 21 first-pitch strikes to 31 batters. He got through the final two innings in 13 pitches. In the postseason, Cole (3-0) was everything that he wasn't for much of the regular season. After winning his first two starts of the season, Cole met adversity. His best friend was shot and killed at a party Feb. 25, and Cole virtually disappeared from the team. He was rocked in his next two starts and then did not pitch for a month. He pitched effectively in relief in April and May. Then, in the first game of the WAC WAC (Women's Army Corps), U.S. army organization created (1942) during World War II to enlist women as auxiliaries for noncombatant duty in the U.S. army. Before 1943 it was known as the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC). Its first director was Oveta Culp Hobby. Championship Series, he pitched three innings of relief and was one of just two pitchers in that series not to allow an earned run. ``I feel great,'' he said Friday. ``That section of being down, I got over it.'' NCAA BASEBALL PLAYOFFS FRIDAY'S GAMES West Regional Cal State Northridge 18, NE Illinois 1 Florida State 10, UC Santa Barbara 1 Central I Regional Southwest Missouri State 13, UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX 2 Miami 5, Long Beach State 2 Central II Regional USC An abbreviation for U.S. Code. 15, Arkansas 5 Midwest Regional Cal State Fullerton 7, Rice 3 CAPTION(S): Photo, Box PHOTO (color) CSUN's Adam Kennedy is welcomed after hi s grand slam. Mark Bullard / Special to the Daily News Box: NCAA BASEBALL PLAYOFFS (see text) |
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