CSUN Drops Two to #20 Long Beach State

Sunday, April 10

Northridge, CA

11:00 a.m.

California State University at Northridge

21-9, 0-4

#20 Long Beach State

18-11, 2-2

Long Beach State

CSUN

Photo by: CSUN Athletics

CSUN Drops Two to #20 Long Beach State

4/10/2016 7:55:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

NORTHRIDGE, CA---

CSUN Baseball (21-10, 0-5 BWC) suffered a sweep in its doubleheader with No. 20 Long Beach State (19-11, 3-2 BWC) at Matador Field on Sunday afternoon. The Matadors fell in the opener, 6-3, and were shutout, 12-0, in game two. Senior Branden Berry recorded hits in each game to extend his streak of reaching base safely to 23 games.

In the opener, Long Beach State built an early lead against starter Kenny Rosenberg by plating two runs in the first and second innings. Capitalizing on a CSUN miscue on the infield to start the game, Luke Rasmussen picked up an RBI single and Brock Lundquist grounded in a run to put the Dirtbags up 2-0. An inning later, LBSU got two more on a one-out, two-run home run off the bat of Joey Sanchez.

The Matadors answered with a run in their half of the second to cut into the lead. After Albee Weiss walked with one out, Nolan Bumstead doubled down the right field line to push Weiss to third base. Two batters later, Nolan Flashman singled in a run with a single through the right side.

Rosenberg tossed a shutout third inning but Long Beach clipped the southpaw in the fourth to go back up by four. With two outs and nobody on base, Sanchez belted his second home run of the afternoon with a shot to left.

LBSU starter Chris Mathewson pitched out of a bases loaded jam in the bottom of the third and kept CSUN scoreless over the next two frames. In the sixth, however, the Matadors got back into the scoring column. Justin Toerner tripled to deep center field to start the rally, and two batters later, Bumstead brought him home with a sacrifice fly to right.

CSUN continued to chip away at the deficit by adding another run in the eighth. Toerner again played the role of table setter, reaching on an infield single to leadoff the frame. Following a passed ball and wild pitch, Bumstead hit a grounder to short to plate Toerner.

The Dirtbags answered right back though with an insurance run the ninth. With two runners in scoring position, a wild pitch brought home Daniel Jackson from third to make it a 6-3 game.

A CSUN comeback would not be in the cards in the contest as Austin McGeorge retired the side in the bottom of the ninth to seal the victory for Long Beach State.

Much like in the opener, the Dirtbags jumped on the Matadors in the early going in game two. Long Beach State took a 1-0 lead on a two-out RBI single from Alex Muzzi in the top of the second and the Dirtbags would break the game open an inning later with a four-run outburst.

After the first three LBSU batters reached in the third, a wild pitch brought home the game's second run. Luke Rasmussen followed with an RBI single to left and a second run came across on an error in the outfield on the play. Long Beach State added its fourth run of the inning on a passed ball.

The Dirtbags were far from done as they added two runs in the fourth and two more in the sixth on a home run from Rasmussen to push the lead to nine.

Meanwhile, Darren McCaughan frustrated the Matadors all afternoon on the mound as he limited CSUN to three hits. McCaughan walked just one on the day including posting 10 strikeouts in his seven innings of work. CSUN was held to just five base runners in the contest and only one reached scoring position.

Long Beach State tacked on three more in the eighth inning to go up 12-0 and the Dirtbag bullpen completed the shutout with back-to-back scoreless frames to record the win.

CSUN completes its three-game series with Long Beach State at 2 p.m. on Monday afternoon. Ross Porter will call all the action from Matador Field on the CSUN Sports Network.