CSUN SHOWS HEART IN LOSS MATADORS FINISH STRONG AFTER NEVADA FORGES A 10-RUN LEAD NEVADA 14, CSUN 8.

Byline: Chris Cocoles Staff Writer

It's just two games into Cal State Northridge's baseball season, but the Matadors are proving to be a scrappy bunch.

They won their opener Friday with a six-run eighth inning keyed by a freshman's double in his first collegiate at-bat. Saturday ended in a loss, but the Matadors didn't check out early despite a 10-run deficit.

CSUN at least will take some positive vibes into today's noon series finale against Nevada after the Wolf Pack held on for a 14-8 victory before a crowd of 552 at Matador Field.

The Matadors (1-1) weren't pretty Saturday. Seven pitchers combined for 11 walks and two hit batters. The defense was charged with three errors.

Despite collecting just three hits through the first six innings, the Matadors battled back with four runs in the eighth to pull within 13-8 before falling short.

Nevada plated four runs in the first, two in the second, three in the third and three in the fourth.

``It's tough to battle back when they're scoring every inning. But we showed a lot of heart today,'' said sophomore first baseman Tim Arroyo, who hit a three-run homer and drove in three runs. ''We came back and scored a lot of runs at the end and that's a good sign early in the year.''

Arroyo was one of six freshmen or sophomores in coach Mike Batesole's lineup Saturday. CSUN's starting pitcher, Santa Ana College transfer Ryan McDermott, was making his Division I debut.

McDermott's performance was typical of the Matadors' struggles the first six innings. Fifteen of the left-hander's first 18 pitches went for balls. And one of the three strikes was crushed by Matt Ortiz for a three-run homer as Nevada (1-1) took an early 4-0 lead.

Arroyo's three-run shot in the bottom of the first got CSUN back within a run, but a combination of poor defense and erratic pitching helped the Wolf Pack take command.

``We walked (11) guys and (seven) of them scored. And it's pretty tough to defense that,'' Batesole said. ``When you're struggling on the mound you need someone to pick you up, and defensively, we didn't do anything great to pick anyone else up.''

The Matadors were all but silenced by Westlake High product Jay Kenny, who relieved Royal of Simi Valley graduate Matt Rainer. Kenny retired 10 straight hitters at one point and allowed just one run over 3 1/3 innings.

But five consecutive hits in the eighth made the final score a lot closer.

``We didn't come here to play six or seven (innings) we came here to play nine,'' Batesole said. ``I hope we just don't do that in the beginning of the season. I think we'll do that all 56 (games). If you do that, then the law of averages will take care of itself.''

Matt Rainer allowed three earned runs and walked four in 3 1/3 innings for Nevada. His brother Mike, a CSUN sophomore, pitched 1 1/3 innings of relief for the Matadors.