California State University at Northridge
Hawai''i
Matadors Drop Series Opener to Hawai'i 1-0
4/18/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
HONOLULU-
CSUN Baseball (22-14, 2-8 Big West) dropped the opener up its three-game set to Hawai'i (13-23, 4-6 Big West) 1-0 on Friday night at Les Murkami Stadium in Honolulu. Calvin Copping went the distance, tossing eight strong innings, however a wild pitch in the first proved to be costly and the difference maker in the contest.
On Friday, outstanding pitching was on display from both sides and runs were at an absolute premium throughout. Rainbow Warrior starter LJ Brewster frustrated the Matador bats for seven innings, striking out five batters and scattering three hits.
Copping matched Brewster pitch-for-pitch throughout the entire evening, tossing eight stellar innings of his own. Copping struck out four and allowed a mere two singles to Hawai'i.
The Rainbow Warriors struck first in its half of the first inning, Copping surrendered a single and walked a pair to load the bases. Copping then delivered a wild pitch that allowed Stephen Ventimilia to score from third base to break the scoreless tie.
Copping settled down after the wild pitch to retire the next 11 batters in a row. Overall, the junior retired 21 of the final 25 batters he faced on the night, allowing three walks and a single along the way.
Trailing 1-0, the Matadors had a difficult time scoring the equalizer throughout the game. CSUN had runners on in six of the nine innings but were turned back in each frame by stingy Hawai'i pitching.
In the fifth inning, CSUN threatened to tie the contest up by moving a runner to third base. Elias Orona singled to start the inning and he stole second base moments later. Later in the inning, after William Colantono grounded out, Orona moved to third base on the play with two outs. Brewster ended the rally by recording the final out of the inning on a Ryan Raslowsky groundout
After Brewster was lifted from the game in the eighth, Quintin Torres-Costa entered in the eighth. Colantono hit a single off Torres-Costa to start the frame.
After Raslowsky moved Colantono to second base, Yusuke Akitoshi struck out and Justin Toerner grounded out to end the frame.
In the ninth, Torres-Costa retired the Matadors in order to end the game at 1-0.
CSUN resumes its series with Hawai'i on Saturday night at Les Murakami Stadium. First pitch is at 9:35 p.m. PT.
