CSUN Travels to #13 UC Santa Barbara for Three-Game Series

Friday, April 15

Santa Barbara, CA

3:00 p.m.

California State University at Northridge

#13 UC Santa Barbara

Photo by: Paul Trafecanty

CSUN Travels to #13 UC Santa Barbara for Three-Game Series

4/14/2016 3:03:00 PM | Baseball

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NORTHRIDGE, CA---

CSUN Baseball (22-10, 1-5 BWC) continues its Big West Conference slate with a three-game set at No. 13 UC Santa Barbara (21-7-1, 2-1 BWC) beginning Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. The series will continue on Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday's finale is slated for a 1 p.m. start time.

The Matadors competed in a three games series with Long Beach State over a two-day span last weekend after rain caused Friday and Saturday's games to be postponed. CSUN dropped the first two games to the nationally-ranked Dirtbags on Sunday but rebounded with a 4-2 victory on Monday to claim its first victory of Big West season.

Leadoff hitter Fred Smith collected four hits in the series including driving in three runs in the series finale. Senior Nolan Flashman also has a strong weekend, recording his first three-hit game of his Matador career. In game one on Sunday, Flashman picked up two hits with an RBI and he went 3-for-4 with a home run while scoring three times in Monday's win. Sophomore right-hander Andrew Weston made a spot start in game three and he tossed six shutout innings and struck out three to earn his team-leading fifth victory.

Coming into the series, the Matadors are third in the Big West Conference in batting with a .271 team average and are led by Smith. The junior is atop the conference in total hits with 50 and sixth in batting average with .352. Also hitting above the .300 mark, Branden Berry is posting a .333 average at the dish while continuing to lead CSUN in runs batted in with 24. Both Albee Weiss and Nolan Bumstead head into the weekend with 20 or more runs batted in. Weiss is tied with Berry with six home runs and he has registered 22 RBI while Bumstead is batting .273 and third on the team in runs batted in with 20.

The Matadors are tops in the Big West in strikeouts with 289 and third in ERA at 3.21 through 32 games. Left-hander Kenny Rosenberg (4-1) leads the conference with 70 strikeouts heading into the matchup with UCSB while he is boasting a 2.68 ERA. Fresh off his longest outing of the season Monday, Weston (5-3) will start in the series. The sophomore is sporting a 3.08 ERA in 13 appearances over 38.0 innings of work. In the bullpen, Samuel Myers earned his first career save against Long Beach State in the series finale, tossing three shutout innings. Myers comes into the weekend with a 1.63 ERA and 28 strikeouts in a team-leading 13 appearances out of the bullpen.

The Gauchos lead the all-time series 81-64 including taking two of three meetings last season at Matador Field. The Matadors came from behind to defeat UCSB, 3-2, in the series finale last season, highlighted by Spencer O'Neil's game tying home run in the ninth and William Colantono's walk-off single in the 13^th inning. CSUN seeks its first series victory against UCSB since the 2011 campaign.

A Closer Look at UC Santa Barbara
UCSB is 21-7-1 on the season and 2-1 in Big West action. At home, the Gauchos post an impressive 13-1 record including nine-straight wins. Last week, UCSB took a week off from conference play as the Gauchos went 1-1-1 at the College of Charleston. The Gauchos are coming off a 40-win season in 2015 and a trip to the NCAA Tournament.

UC Santa Barbara leads the Big West in several offensive categories including on-base percentage (.379), runs (179), RBI (154) and doubles (51). Sophomore Dempsey Grover leads the team with a .346 average while totaling 15 RBI and a .457 on-base percentage. Top run producer on the team, sophomore Austin Bush has driven in 24 runs to go along with three home runs and a .337 batting average.

The Gauchos send junior Shane Bieber (6-1, 3.18 ERA) in the opener of the series followed by freshman Noah Davis (3-1, 3.72 ERA) in game two and sophomore Joe Record (3-3, 4.34 ERA) on Sunday. Bieber leads the Big West in wins while he has posted 42 strikeouts in 56.2 innings. Sophomore closer Kyle Nelson is sporting a conference leading 1.07 ERA in 15 appearances while he has earned four saves.