Feb. 1, 2004
Box Score
Story provided by Cal State Northridge Sports Information Office...
NORTHRIDGE, Calif. - With two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning, Alberto Quintana made his only at-bat a memorable one with a walk-off two-run blast over the fence in left field to give Cal State Northridge (2-1) its second comeback victory in as many days against the No. 39 ranked San Diego Toreros (3-3). After trailing almost the entire game, the Matadors fought back to tie the game late before Quintana's heroics gave the team a 9-7 victory at Matador Field on Sunday afternoon.
Trailing by a 7-4 score, CSUN scored three runs in the seventh inning to pull even with the Toreros. Drew Aguailar hit a high chopper in the infield for a base hit, allowing Quinn Ciccarelli to score from third. After Aguailar scored on a balk by pitcher Sean Warlop, Keith Renno drove in Mark McCauley from second base with the tying run.
San Diego had taken leads of 2-0 and 5-2 earlier in the game. The Toreros jumped to a quick lead with a two-run double by Randy Curtis in the first inning. Curtis also drove in another run with a fielder's choice in the third. Freddy Sandoval gave USD two more runs in the sixth with a home run, scoring Tom Caple, who had walked to lead off the inning.
Raymond Ravago launched his first collegiate home run in the fourth inning to draw the Matadors within one at 5-4. Jesse Perez walked to start the inning as he scored on both Matador homers.
The hero of the day was clearly Quintana. Entering the game as a substitue for pinch-hitter Jared Halpert to start the ninth inning, the junior catcher strode to the plate for the first time in the 10th. With two outs, he took the pitch from Caple and set off the game-ending celebration. Quintana had also homered in Saturday's 24-14 Northridge victory.
Phil Polanco struck out four batters in two innings of work to pick up the victory. Entering the game in the ninth, he allowed only two batters to reach base in earning his first victory since the 2002 season. Caple, who started the game in center field, pitched well in two plus innings before the fateful matchup with Quintana, giving him his first decision of the season.
Renno and Ravago were the only Matador hitters with more than one hit, each collecting two. Aguailar, Renno, Paulk and McCauley drove in the other runs for CSUN. Sandoval had two hits and scored twice for San Diego.
Both teams were warned by home plate umpire Duane Finley after consecutive Northridge batters were hit in the third inning. In the three game series, Matador players were hit by a pitch 13 times compared to four for San Diego hitters.
Cal State Northridge travels to Hawai'i to play a three-game series starting next Friday, Feb. 6 at Les Murakami Stadium. Game one against the Rainbows is at 6:35 p.m. Hawaiian time, 8:35 p.m. Pacific time.
