CSUN Bats Beat Pomona in Opener, Then Fall Silent in the Second Game

Jim Vatcher hit a solo home run in the bottom of the 11th inning Saturday to give the Cal State Northridge baseball team a 10-9 win over Cal Poly Pomona in the first game of a doubleheader at CSUN.

The Matadors lost the second game, 5-3.

Vatcher, a junior right fielder, was 3 for 6 in the first game.

Northridge trailed, 8-3, in the eighth inning of the opener but caught the Broncos, 9-9, by scoring three runs in the eighth and three more in the ninth.

John Balfanz hit his 17th homer, a three-run blast, in the eighth to lead the comeback.

Northridge’s Todd Mustin was 6 for 11 in the doubleheader and had a home run in the second game.

Pomona pitcher Kirk Washington, who as a reliever gave up the homer to Vatcher in the first game, started the second game and went 6 innings to get the win.

The Matadors are 21-25 overall and 12-15 in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. The Broncos are 22-25 and 16-9, one game behind first-place Cal State Dominguez Hills.