California State University at Northridge
UC Santa Barbara
Matadors Continue Road Trip at UC Santa Barbara
4/9/2015 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Last weekend, CSUN swept UC Davis in a three-game Big West series on the road. The sweep was CSUN's first of the Aggies since the 2006 season and gave the Matadors two straight series sweeps to open the league season, their best start to conference play since the 1996 season.
Rookie infielder Savannah Horvath enjoyed a stellar weekend against the Aggies, earning Big West Player of the Week honors after batting .556 in the series. She went a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate and missed hitting for the cycle in the series finale, blasting her eighth home run and second triple of the season. She leads the Big West Conference with 21 extra-base hits.
In the circle, Brianna Elder and Zoe Conley combined to limit the Aggies to five runs on the weekend. Elder picked up two wins to push her season total to 14 while Conley recorded her 13th win and second save of the season.
This week, CSUN gets a crack at UC Santa Barbara. The Gauchos are 15-24 overall and 2-4 in Big West play after dropping a series to Cal Poly last weekend. As a team, UC Santa Barbara is batting .307 with 47 doubles, four triples and 18 home runs. Jacqueline Hinojosa leads the club with a .387 batting average and .517 on-base percentage. Ariana Palomares leads the Big West Conference with 13 doubles and sports a .380 batting average with 25 RBIs on the season.
In the circle, Alex Pingree is 7-7 with a 4.89 ERA and 45 strikeouts in 103 innings of work. Ashley Ludlow is 4-14 with a 5.87 ERA and 49 strikeouts in 101.1 innings this season. Opponents have batted .328 with 75 doubles, 10 triples and 29 home runs in 250.2 innings off Gaucho pitching.
The Matadors are looking for their first series win against UCSB since the 2010 season. The Gauchos have won eight of the last nine meetings with CSUN, including a series sweep last season. The last time CSUN swept UCSB was in 2010 and the last Matadors sweep on the road came in 2001.
CSUN returns to Matador Diamond for a three-game league series against UC Riverside on April 18-19.
Follow Your Matadors Online
All home games this season will include live stats coverage and selected contests will also feature a free audio broadcast on GoMatadors.com. For road games, related links to the game, including for any live stats, audio and video, will be posted before the game on the softball schedule page of GoMatadors.com. Fans are also encouraged to check the CSUN Athletics Department's official Twitter feed (@GoMatadors) for updates of games in progress and news and notes throughout the week.Â
Take Your Seat in the Front Row
Fans can now follow all of the action for CSUN's 19 varsity sports right from their phone or tablet! CSUN Front Row, the official mobile app of Matador Athletics, is available for free for iOS and Android devices. Fans can also access live stats coverage of a majority of CSUN home events, as well as audio and video links when available. For more information, search for CSUN Front Row on the App Store or Google Play or visit GoMatadors.com/frontrow.
