CSUN'S COLE HAS TO PITCH THROUGH THE PAIN.

Byline: Kevin Acee Daily News Staff Writer

On Feb. 24, Jason Cole pitched seven innings, allowing four hits and a run for the victory in Cal State Northridge's 10-1 victory at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. He was 2-0 with a 1.23 ERA.

The next night his best friend was shot dead at a party.

``Some 16-year-old punks,'' Cole said earlier this week, the anger over the death of Fil Valido still strong in his voice. ``He just happened to be the one who got it.''

In Cole's next two starts - March 3 and March 8 - he gave up 13 runs (12 earned) in 5-2/3 innings.

His mind was not on baseball.

``I felt like I wanted him there,'' Cole said of Valido, the first person he met when he went to El Camino College two years ago. The guy who would be his catcher on El Camino's baseball team for two years. The guy he would wait for after class so they could get lunch and maybe shoot some pool before practice.

After the March 8 start at UC Santa Barbara, Cole did not pitch again until this past Saturday, a span of 16 games.

On two days' rest, he started Tuesday at Pepperdine, shutting out the Waves on one hit in 2-2/3 innings, starting the Matadors' on their way to an 8-2 victory.

During the month Cole was inactive, his teammates, many of whom did not know what Cole was enduring off the field, quietly wondered if the big right-hander would ever pitch again.

He seemed distant. And he was not buying into pitching coach Dan Cowgill's philosophy, which was working so well for the rest of the staff. Last week, Cole was taken off the traveling squad.

After a long talk with Cowgill on Friday, Cole pitched well in two innings of relief Saturday against, coincidentally, San Luis Obispo.

And then came another test Tuesday.

``That felt real good,'' Cole said.

His re-emergence should give a boost to the seventh-ranked Matadors, who lead the Western Athletic Conference's Western Division by 2-1/2 games and play 12 road games against their three closest pursuers in the coming weeks.

Northridge (35-7) used six pitchers and got 12 hits Tuesday - the 27th game this season the Matadors have gotten 10 or more - in what amounted to a play-everybody tuneup for this weekend's 4-1/2 games in Hawaii. (The Matadors and Rainbows will play two seven-inning games on Saturday, finish a seven-inning game that was rained out earlier this season and play another nine-inning game on Saturday then play a nine-inning game on Sunday.)

Cole is expected to get a start in Hawaii.

``There have been some bumps in the road,'' Northridge head coach Mike Batesole said of Cole. ``But if (Cole) can kick into gear right now it might actually end up benefiting us in the long run, because now we've got a guy who's fresh and strong.

``If he can do what we thought he could before it could work out great.''

A nice prognosis for a player all but given up on a week ago.

Cole knew he was wrong to shut out Cowgill. But he was trying to work things out his way. That's how he's always done it.

``I'm stubborn,'' he said.

And, suddenly, he was grieving. A month before Valido's death, another friend of Cole's had killed himself.

``I think I was trying to throw for him,'' Cole said, referring to Valido. ``I think it was a combination of that and me trying to do my own program.''

Cole talked to Valido's father and brother for the umpteenth time a week ago, and they told him Fil would want him to go on, to pitch again.

But it was not until after he did not make the trip with the team to Loyola Marymount on April 2 that Cole decided to talk to Cowgill.

``I kept telling myself, `I'll talk to him now, well maybe not. OK, now. Well maybe not.' '' Cole remembered. ``Then when I didn't travel Tuesday, I was like it's now or I'm not going to. It just kicked in I guess.''

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Photo, Chart

Photo: CSUN pitching coach Dan Cowgill, left, has ha d to be patient with Jason Cole.

Terri Thuente / Daily News

Chart: COLE'S JOURNEY