Northridge pitcher handcuffs Rainbows again

NORTHRIDGE, Calif. » Almost one year ago to the day, the Hawaii baseball team came up against Cal State Northridge pitcher Jerry Keel and came up empty.

On Friday, Keel was almost as masterful, and first baseman Will Colantono’s double in the bottom of the ninth inning gave the Matadors a 2-1 victory, sending the Rainbow Warriors to their eighth consecutive loss.

In two games here, Hawaii (14-21, 2-9 Big West) has seven hits and no earned runs. Northridge (15-23, 4-7) had seven hits Friday.

"Of course it’s cause for concern," coach Mike Trapasso said. "When you’re not hitting, you’re not scoring, you’ve lost eight in a row you’re not concerned, you’re not caring."

The Matadors started this series tied for last with the Rainbow Warriors. It might seem odd, but Colantono declared afterward, "Our pitching staff is probably one of the best, I feel, in the country."

Hawaii is sure making it look that way. Keel stuck out a career-best 10 in 823 innings, walking one and giving up an unearned run. At one point, he retired 18 consecutive batters. Last year, he pitched a complete-game five-hitter with five strikeouts, a walk and an unearned run.

"He was the story of the game," Trapasso said. "I understand his numbers aren’t the same. He’s been struggling. That was last year’s guy you saw today. He’s really good."

That’s true especially when Keel faces Hawaii. His totals: 1723 innings and a 0.00 ERA. But this season, he’s winless.

He explained his success thusly: "My game plan works well with their hitting approach: aggressive, swing at least at the first two pitches. They’d kind of chase, so I was able to expand the zone on them a little."

About the only mistake he made came in the second inning. With Jordan Richartz on third, Trevor Podratz hit a comebacker. Keel ran at Richartz and missed tagging him, allowing Hawaii to take a 1-0 lead.

"I thought I nicked him, but it’s a touch play for the umpire to see," Keel said. "I didn’t come down the line towards home plate enough, so he was able to get an angle on home, and it was too late to get the ball back to my catcher to make a play."

Despite his dominance, Keel didn’t get the victory. Reliever Anthony Cortez (2-0) got Matt Miller to fly to right and strand Marc Flores at third.

Quintin Torres-Costa (2-1) suffered his first collegiate loss. He walked catcher Dylan Alexander to start the ninth and gave up a sacrifice to third baseman Michael Livingston before serving up Colantono’s game-winning double to the right-field gap that scored pinch runner Nico Garbella.

"I feel bad for Quintin," Trapasso said. "You can’t walk the leadoff guy, and he hung a breaking ball."

Hawaii starter Scott Kuzminsky scattered six hits in 613 innings in giving up one earned run with a strikeout, a wild pitch and a hit batter. He hit Nicolas Osuna to start the second, sent him to second on that wild pitch, then gave up a double to Alexander that tied the game.

"He didn’t have his off-speed stuff, but that’s Scott," Trapasso said. "Scott’s gonna battle and he’s gonna scratch and claw. That was a typical Scott Kuzminsky outing for us over the last month. The guy’s gonna go deep in games, he’s gonna keep you in games, he’s gonna force contact; and today, he did it all on guts because he really struggled with his secondary pitches."

Kuzminsky got help defensively from shortstop Austin Wobrock in the second and left fielder Adam Hurley in the fifth. Wobrock went up the middle to field a batted ball by Brett Balkan. Had the ball gotten through, Alexander would have scored. Instead, Wobrock threw him out easily.

Hurley gunned down Balkan after Colantono singled to left. Balkan came in standing and threw his shoulder at Podratz, earning an ejection for malicious contact.

The final game of the series is at 10 a.m. Saturday.