Desperately in need of muscle beneath the...

Desperately in need of muscle beneath the basket, the Northridge men’s basketball team might get some with the return of Jermar Welch.

Welch, a 6-foot-6, 215-pound forward, hasn’t played since suffering torn ligaments in his left thumb in the Matadors’ season opener at USC in November. The injury required surgery and the prognosis was for a lengthy recovery.

Welch, a junior, had the cast on his hand removed two weeks ago and could rejoin the team soon.

It can’t be too soon for Northridge, which recently lost forward Andre Larry, the team’s second-leading scorer. Larry left the team last week for personal reasons and is not expected to return.

“He’s started to do some work,� Northridge Coach Bobby Braswell said of Welch. “He definitely would be an added body that we need.�

Northridge (13-6, 5-3), a half-game behind first-place Eastern Washington in the Big Sky Conference, plays one game this week, against Idaho State on Thursday night at Northridge.

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After losing two of three games to Nevada last weekend, the Northridge baseball team plays at Pepperdine at 2 p.m. today in a nonconference game. The Matadors begin a three-game weekend series Friday against visiting Cal State Sacramento.

As expected, freshmen pitchers Kameron Loe and Bill Murphy were impressive in their Northridge debuts.

Loe, a right-hander from Granada Hills High, allowed five hits and struck out seven in six innings on Sunday. In the same game, Murphy, a left-hander from Riverside, pitched three scoreless innings.