CSUN GETS BIG WIN IN BIG WEST DEBUT CSUN 4, CAL POLY 3.

Byline: Jill Painter Staff Writer

SAN LUIS OBISPO - The Cal State Northridge baseball team finally felt as though it belonged.

The Matadors again are part of something they consider special - a conference. After playing independent baseball for five years, CSUN players - and even coach Mike Batesole - were justifiably antsy as they made their Big West Conference debut Friday.

CSUN looked as though it belonged, too, as it hung on for a 4-3 victory over Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in the first of a three-game series at Baggett Stadium.

The Matadors (20-11) were feeling lucky to get the one-run win. But even more lucky to be playing for a common goal - the Big West title.

``It's exciting to win your first Big West game,'' junior shortstop J.T. Stotts said. ``We haven't been there in five years. It's something to be excited for - just to be in a conference. Now we have something to play for. I think you could tell there was a different atmosphere, as far as in the dugout. This really meant something. It wasn't just another game.''

Batesole endured the fallout of his program being cut in 1996 and its subsequent reinstatement several weeks later. While all the other sports at CSUN were playing in the Big Sky Conference, his team toiled in the independent ranks. Most Big Sky schools don't field baseball teams.

He had been waiting for this day since the university decided to move to the Big West.

``This was as excited as I've been to play a game in a long, long time,'' Batesole said. ``It felt good. There was a cool, calm, confidence, `Let's get this going - finally.' A lot of these guys have been here for three years now. They've been waiting for this day and growing toward this day for a long time.''

Jeremy Hanson hit a two-out, two-run home run on a 1-2 changeup to give CSUN a 2-0 lead in the second inning. CSUN starter Andy Davidson pitched 6 1/3 solid innings, allowing three runs on five hits after escaping a bases-loaded jam in the first inning. Reliever Merrill Dunn got CSUN out of the seventh, in which the Mustangs tied the game at 3-3 on a two-out, two-run double by Bryan Gant, and retired the side in the eighth.

Eric Verbryke scored the game-winner for CSUN in the eighth inning on a two-out, run-scoring fielder's choice. Closer Mike Frick earned his seventh save after he struck out the side in the ninth. Tim Arroyo, in his final at-bat, extended his hitting streak to 19 games.