CSUN SHOWS ITS RESERVE STRENGTH.Byline: Chris Cocoles Staff Writer Ryan Haag hung around after Thursday's baseball practice taking some extra batting-practice swings with Cal State Northridge coach Mike Batesole. Batesole finally headed home after 30-something minutes but not Haag. ``He stayed and was still hitting some more,'' Batesole said of Haag, mired mire n. 1. An area of wet, soggy, muddy ground; a bog. 2. Deep slimy soil or mud. 3. A disadvantageous or difficult condition or situation: the mire of poverty. v. in a three-way battle for the Matadors' third-base job. Twenty-one games into the season, the vacancy remains. But Haag came off the bench Friday to make a bid, his two-run double giving Northridge momentum in an eventual 10-9 victory over visiting 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 at Matador matador In bullfighting, the principal performer, who works the capes and attempts to dispatch the bull with a sword thrust between the shoulder blades. Most of the techniques used by modern matadors were established in the 1910s by Juan Belmonte (b. 1894–d. Field. Haag, senior Jason Gorman and freshman John Voita have started games at third. Gorman got the call Friday after a productive performance at last weekend's tournament in Lancaster. Haag pinch hit for freshman shortstop Mel Robinson Jr. in the sixth and promptly doubled. The sophomore from Hart High of Newhall was stranded at third but got another opportunity the following inning with the bases loaded. ``I feel a little pressure,'' Haag said of entering the game for offensive purposes. ``I've dealt with pressure pretty well in my life.'' Haag responded, driving Bruins (11-11) reliever Brandon Averill's pitch to the warning track in center. The ball bounced over the fence for a ground-rule double to tie the game. Adam Nikolic smashed Averill's next pitch beyond the left-field wall and CSUN CSUN California State University Northridge (15-6) led 9-6. Haag hadn't played third since his sophomore year at Hart. He made 24 starts last season, mostly at second base. But the left side of the infield has been unsettled with Robinson and Gorman sharing the shortstop chores. The rest of the lineup, particularly from one to five, is set and dominating. ``They've all had some big hits,'' said senior first baseman Tim Arroyo, who had four hits, including his sixth home run, and four RBI RBI abbr. Baseball runs batted in Noun 1. rbi - a run that is the result of the batter's performance; "he had more than 100 rbi last season" run batted in . Arroyo, Nikolic, Jason Allec and Shaun Larkin went a combined 11 for 17 with eight RBI and seven runs scored as the Matadors' top four hitters. ``The top of the lineup's coming through, but the bottom of the lineup is just as big a part of it as the top, and we need everyone to do their thing.'' Throw in another solid outing by ace pitcher Bill Murphy William R.W. "Bill" Murphy (born May 9, 1981 in Anaheim, California) is a left-handed Major League Baseball relief pitcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Murphy attended Arlington High School in Riverside, California. (5-1), and the Matadors had their fifth victory in six tries. Murphy's 127 pitches got the left-hander through 7 1/3 innings INNINGS, estates. Lands gained from the sea by draining. Cunn. L. Dict. h. t.; Law of Sewers, 31. , allowing one earned run earned run n. Baseball A run scored without the aid of an error, used in computing earned run averages. Noun 1. earned run - a run that was not scored as the result of an error by the other team and striking out 12 to win his fourth consecutive start. ``We're starting to get into midseason form,'' Murphy said. ``We still have a little work to do. But we're on our way.'' UCLA was headed in that direction by winning four of its previous five. But the Bruins took a wrong curve. Adam Berry's three-run homer Friday, the senior's sixth in the past six games, cut the lead to one in the ninth. But the rally stopped there. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Adam Nikolic, a force for Cal State Northridge in the field and at the plate Friday, makes a basket catch basket catch n. Baseball A catch made with the palm of the glove turned upward and the wrist kept close to the body. against UCLA. Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer |
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