Matadors Defeat Northern Colorado, 5-3, in Series Opener

Friday, February 26

Northridge, CA

2:00 p.m.

California State University at Northridge

3-2

Northern Colorado

1-5

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Northern Colorado	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	3	9	0
CSUN	0	0	1	2	0	2	0	0	X	5	10	3

Photo by: CSUN Athletics

Matadors Defeat Northern Colorado, 5-3, in Series Opener

2/26/2016 8:10:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

En Español

NORTHRIDGE, CA---

CSUN Baseball (3-2) earned a 5-3 victory against Northern Colorado (1-5) on Friday afternoon at Matador Field. Fred Smith, Yusuke Akitoshi, Nolan Bumstead and Dylan Alexander each had two hits, and both Akitoshi and Jose Ruiz drove in a pair. Ruiz also belted his first career home run in the contest. Rayne Raven went 6.1 innings and allowed one earned run, striking out six batters to earn his first win of the season.

"It was an interesting day today. I think we had some very good at bats but we missed opportunities in plus counts," said head coach Greg Moore. "We are going to be better tomorrow. I think we are doing a much better job of going deep into at bats, fouling pitches off. But we're not doing as good of a job early in the count of capitalizing on the 1-0, 2-0 counts."

The Matadors put together a balanced 10-hit attack in the opener of the four-game series against the Bears. CSUN threatened in nearly every inning as the Bears were able to retire CSUN in order on only three occasions on the day.

After a scoreless first inning, the Bears struck first, however, in the top of the second. Brett Minnick belted a 2-1 pitch over the left field fence to put Northern Colorado ahead 1-0.

CSUN would answer in the third to square the game at 1-1. Smith led off the frame with a double to left field and Akitoshi followed next with a shot into deep right field. Smith scored from second and the speedy Akitoshi hustled around to third base for his first triple of the season.

In the fourth, the Matadors took the lead with a three-hit inning. Both Alexander and Elias Orona reached on singles putting runners at the corner with one out. Smith then brought home the go-ahead run with a well-placed grounder to third base to score Alexander. CSUN added another on a two-out Akitoshi single to center field.

On the mound, Raven kept the Bears at bay with solid pitching throughout the day. Raven allowed just three hits after surrendering the second inning home run.

The Bears threatened in the sixth though after the first two reached to start the frame. Raven would escape danger after forcing Nick Tanner to line into a double play and fanning Minnick to end the inning.

In the bottom half of the sixth, CSUN added two more runs to push the lead to 5-1. Following a leadoff walk from Alexander, Ruiz deposited a two-run shot to left. The home run was not only Ruiz's first career long ball but it was his first collegiate hit.

Northern Colorado chipped away at the lead, posting single runs in the seventh and in the ninth but the Matadors' bullpen would shut the door to secure the win.

Samuel Myers made his CSUN debut, relieving Raven in the seventh, and pitched 0.2 shutout innings. Angel Rodriguez tossed a scoreless eighth and entered the ninth protecting the three-run lead. After the Bears scored a run on Rodriguez, O'Neil entered the fray and struck out three of four batters he faced to earn the save.

With his 14th career save, O'Neil tied Phil Polanco (2002-04) and Josh Goossen-Brown (2011-13) for the most career saves in CSUN history.

The Matadors continue their series with the Bears on Saturday. The teams will compete in a doubleheader with game one slated for 11 a.m. The second game is tentatively scheduled for 2:30 p.m.