McNeeley’s Bat Helps Matadors Narrowly Top Santa Barbara

Mike McNeeley hit a three-run home run in the second inning and finished with four runs batted in and Cal State Northridge defeated UC Santa Barbara, 7-6, in a nonconference baseball game Wednesday afternoon at UC Santa Barbara.

McNeeley, Kevin Patrick and Nakia Hill each had two hits for Northridge (7-6).

The Gauchos (1-3) left the potential tying run on third base in the bottom of the eighth inning when Brad Foss got Chad Peshke to fly out to right field. Foss earned his third save.

In other baseball games:

Pepperdine 8, Nevada Las Vegas 7--David Matranga went four for five and had two RBIs and Dave Sardinha had three hits for the Waves in a nonconference victory in Las Vegas.

Pepperdine, which collected 13 hits, scored a run in the ninth inning to break a 7-7 tie. Winning pitcher Dave Reed (1-0) pitched the last 3 1/3 innings, allowing two hits and one earned run while striking out four and walking none.

Chaminade High graduate Ryan Hamill pinch-hit for the Rebels and hit a home run in his only at-bat. The homer was his second of the season.

Biola 8, Cal Lutheran 0--Donny Churchman had two of Cal Lutheran’s four hits in a nonconference season opener at Biola (2-5).

Tom Canale (0-1) allowed six earned runs on four hits and two walks in 1 1/3 innings.

Point Loma Nazarene 6, The Master’s 1--Four pitchers combined on a three-hitter for host Point Loma Nazarene (5-0) in a nonconference game.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Moorpark 87, Oxnard 65--Anthony McCurtis scored 13 of his 24 points in the first half and Cameron Henderson had 13 of his 17 points in the second half for Moorpark (13-10, 5-1) in a Western State Conference North Division game at Moorpark.

Santa Monica 87, Valley 83--Darwin Carter had seven three-pointers and 30 points for host Santa Monica (22-5, 4-3) in a Western State Conference South Division game.

Faheem Nelson scored 18 points for Valley (21-7, 5-2).

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Ventura 68, Santa Barbara City 38--Amirah Leonard had 17 points and eight assists for two-time defending state champion Ventura in the Western State Conference North Division game at Santa Barbara.

The win was the 28th in a row for the Pirates (29-1, 7-0) and their 100th in the past 102 games.

Cal Lutheran 72, Whittier 51--A five-day delay in the game did not affect Cal Lutheran in a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference contest at Whittier (4-15, 0-7).

Play was suspended Friday with 10.7 seconds remaining in the first half when the power went out. Cal Lutheran (13-6, 8-0) led, 36-29.

Canyons 101, Bakersfield 81--Battling a stomach virus, Laura Tweedy scored 21 points, grabbed 16 rebounds and blocked five shots for Canyons (22-7, 8-0) in a Western State Conference South Division game.