UCLA Saves Best for Last : Baseball: Bruins defeat Northridge, 4-2, on two ninth-inning home runs.

NORTHRIDGE — If baseball games were eight innings long, the world would be a much happier place today for Cal State Northridge right-hander Rob Crabtree and his teammates.

They would have gotten out of bed this morning and read in the newspaper about how Crabtree pitched the game of the season and shut out UCLA.

Instead, they won’t want to get out of bed at all.

Crabtree carried a three-hit shutout and a two-run lead into the ninth, but UCLA’s Tim DeCinces and Zak Ammirato each hit home runs and the Bruins rallied for a 4-2 victory in a nonconference game Wednesday at Matador Field.

“He pitched a great game,” Northridge second baseman Grant Hohman said. “Two pitches was all it took. We didn’t score enough runs for him.”

Crabtree (2-2), who has been Northridge’s best pitcher, was dominating for eight innings. He had given up just three identical hits--doubles down the left-field line--and two walks. He had struck out 12.

Northridge Coach Bill Kernen said he saw no signs that the ninth inning would be any different than the first eight.

“He pretty much kicked their (butts) for eight innings,” he said. “Then it happened pretty fast.”

UCLA freshman third baseman Troy Glaus, a preseason All-American, had struck out on split-finger fastballs in each of his first three trips to the plate, but he led off the ninth with a double.

DeCinces, the son of former major-leaguer Doug DeCinces, followed by hitting Crabtree’s first pitch over the right field wall. After Crabtree’s 13th strikeout, Ammirato homered on a 1-and-1 pitch. Crabtree then gave up three more singles and another run.

The Matadors went down meekly--two strikeouts, a walk and a popup--in the bottom of the ninth.

After the game, Crabtree was struggling to figure out what went wrong.

“I threw a few bad pitches, but I can’t say I was tired,” he said. “I don’t know if I lost concentration or what, but I got the ball up.”

DeCinces had another explanation.

“They were talking trash and I don’t think there’s a need for that,” he said. “We were flat the whole game, but they gave us a reason to win the game. They’d have buried us by keeping their mouths shut.”

The Matadors (9-6) might also have buried the Bruins (7-4) if they had been able to generate more offense. Hohman’s two-run home run in the second inning, his third, was all Northridge could muster. The Matadors had only three hits against five UCLA pitchers.

Nick St. George (1-0) pitched the eighth to pick up the victory and Pete Zamora pitched the ninth for his first save.