CSUN Opens Up Home Big West Slate with #20 Long Beach State

Sunday, April 10

Northridge, CA

11:00 a.m.

California State University at Northridge

#20 Long Beach State

Photo by: CSUN Athletics

CSUN Opens Up Home Big West Slate with #20 Long Beach State

4/7/2016 12:23:00 PM | Baseball

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NORTHRIDGE, CA---

CSUN Baseball (21-8, 0-3 BWC) returns home to resume its Big West Conference schedule against No. 20 Long Beach State (17-11, 1-2 BWC) beginning Friday. The Matadors' home Big West opener against the Dirtbags will begin at 3 p.m. while Saturday and Sunday's contests start at 1 p.m. Friday's opener will be streamed live on the CSUN Sports Network with Ross Porter on the call and audio only broadcasts will be available for the rest of the series with Brandon Marcus providing play-by-play.

After a tough series at Cal State Fullerton last weekend, the Matadors rebounded nicely with a 4-1 non-conference victory at UCLA on Tuesday. CSUN earned its first season series sweep of the Bruins in 18 seasons and its first season series win in 14 years.

The Matadors pitching staff combined to hold UCLA to three hits as Ray Diaz earned the victory as he tossed 2.0 scoreless frames out of the bullpen while posting three strikeouts. Conner O'Neil threw 1.1 shutout innings to earn his sixth save of the season in the win. Offensively, the Matadors compiled nine hits with the tandem of Branden Berry and Albee Weiss totaling two hits apiece. Yusuke Akitoshi scored two runs, and both Weiss and Justin Toerner each drove in runs.

As a team, the Matadors are near the top of the Big West in several offensive categories heading into the weekend. CSUN is tops in home runs (18), extra-base hits (69) and stolen bases (41). The team is also second in walks (118) and RBI (138), and third in batting (.276). Fred Smith continues to lead the conference in total hits (46) while he is sixth in batting average (.357). Berry has been in consistent presence on the base paths as the senior has reached in each of the last 21 games. Hitting .340 going into the Friday's opener, Berry leads the team with 24 runs batted in and on-base percentage (.492) while sharing the team lead in home runs with Weiss (6).

On the pitching side, the Matador staff is first in the conference in strikeouts (272), and second in both earned run average (2.99) and batting-average-against (.224). Both in the Big West's Top 10 in ERA, junior right-handed Conner O'Neil (sixth) and sophomore southpaw Kenny Rosenberg (seventh) are scheduled to start against Long Beach State this weekend. The conference's leader in strikeouts (64), Rosenberg (4-0, 2.27 ERA) gets the starting nod in the series opener against LBSU while O'Neil (4-1, 2.16 ERA) goes on Saturday. Senior right-hander Angel Rodriguez (3-1, 2.75 ERA) will take the mound in the series finale on Sunday. The Matador trio has also limited opposing hitters to a combined .178 batting average.

The Dirtbags are 71-61-1 all-time against CSUN after earning a sweep at Long Beach State last season. The teams battled in two pitcher's duels in 2015 with CSUN falling 3-2 and 1-0 in the first two games of the series. LBSU cruised to an 8-1 victory in the series finale. The Matadors look to win their first series against the Dirtbags since 2010.

A Closer Look at Long Beach State
On the season, the No. 20 Long Beach State Dirtbags are 17-11 and 1-2 in Big West play. Over their last five games, the Dirtbags have dropped four including falling twice last weekend versus UC Santa Barbara and dropping a Tuesday midweek game at San Diego State, 6-5, in 12 innings.

After earning Big West Conference Second Team honors last season, Garrett Hampson leads the Dirtbags with a .339 batting average, 25 runs scored and 12 stolen bases while driving in 11 runs and amassing a .431 on-base percentage. Luke Rasmussen is tops on the team in home runs (4) and RBI (16). As a team, Long Beach State's pitching is third in ERA (2.33). The 2015 Big West Freshman of the Year, Chris Mathewson (3-3, 3.77 ERA) is second in the conference in strikeouts with 49 and he gets the start in the opener. Darren McCaughan (4-1, 1.77 ERA) and Tanner Brown (4-1, 3.02 ERA) start on Saturday and Sunday respectively.