Rosenberg Goes the Distance, CSUN Defeats Portland, 2-1

Friday, March 25

Hillsboro, OR

7:00 p.m.

California State University at Northridge

20-4

Portland

12-11

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
CSUN	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	2	8	1
Portland	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	4	2

Photo by: CSUN Athletics

Rosenberg Goes the Distance, CSUN Defeats Portland, 2-1

3/25/2016 11:14:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

En Español

NORTHRIDGE, CA---

CSUN Baseball (20-4) posted a 2-1 victory over the Portland Pilots on Friday night at Ron Tonkin Field in Hillsboro, OR. Sophomore Kenny Rosenberg tossed another gem as he struck out nine while scattering four hits en route to recording his first career complete game win. Branden Berry tallied three hits including a pair of doubles and the game-winning hit.

For the third straight game in this series, CSUN received outstanding starting pitching. A day after Conner O'Neil struck out nine in seven innings and Rayne Raven went 7.1 innings and fanned eight batters, Rosenberg kept pace with a strong outing of his own. Rosenberg allowed base runners in just three innings and surrendered hits in two frames to help CSUN to the one-run win.

While Rosenberg was dominant for nearly the entire evening, the Pilots plated the game's first run on an RBI grounder from Kevin Wade in the second inning.

CSUN trailed 1-0 heading to the fourth until the offense finally came alive. Berry roped a one-out double into left field and he later moved up 90 feet on a wild pitch. Nolan Bumstead followed next with a two-out infield single to short to even the game at 1-1.

An inning later, the Matadors received another dose of clutch two-out hitting to tally another run. Bobby Schuman started the rally with a leadoff single and he later advanced to second base on a groundout. Serving as a facilitator back in the fourth, Berry supplied the offense with a timely single to center field in the fifth, bringing home the go-ahead run for the Matadors.

Meanwhile, Rosenberg went to work on the mound as he tossed four perfect innings after giving up the run in the second. He would go on to retire 15-straight batters and 22 of 23 batters after surrendering two singles in the second inning.

Portland finally broke the string of consecutive batters retired in the seventh on a Matador error. Rosenberg would be unfazed by the miscue, however, as he induced a 6-3 double play on the next pitch. He later struck out Ryan Barr swinging to end the frame.

Rosenberg struck out two more batters in the eighth and he marched back out in the bottom of the ninth to attempt to finish the game.

In the ninth, Rosenberg ran into trouble as Portland looked to stage their second comeback of the series. The Matadors appeared to have the game well in hand after Rosenberg recorded the first two outs but an infield single from Michael Forgione kept the inning alive.

A day after Portland posted a ninth-inning rally to win game one of the series, a timely double from Caleb Whalen gave the Pilots new life. Forgione looked to score from first base on the play but the Matador defense came together to nail the runner at home plate.

Justin Toerner ran down the double in center field and fired quickly to the cutoff man Fred Smith. The second baseman gobbled up the throw and sent a strong relay home to Dylan Alexander who applied the tag on Forgione in time to end the game in dramatic fashion.

The throw out at home secured CSUN's 19^th win in 21 games and its 15^th victory over the last 16 games.

On the season, Rosenberg has gone at least six innings in five of six starts including pitching into the seventh inning four times. Over his last five starts, Rosenberg has struck out 50 in 36.2 innings of work while registering a microscopic 1.72 ERA.

CSUN concludes its series with Portland on Saturday afternoon with first pitch slated for 12 p.m. from Joe Etzel Field.