Matadors Fall at UC Riverside in Series Finale

Sunday, May 1

Riverside, CA

1:00 p.m.

California State University at Northridge

25-16, 4-11

UC Riverside

20-21, 7-5

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
CSUN	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	2
UC Riverside	0	1	0	4	0	1	0	0	X	6	11	1

Photo by: CSUN Athletics

Matadors Fall at UC Riverside in Series Finale

5/1/2016 4:17:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

NORTHRIDGE, CA---

CSUN Baseball (25-16, 4-11 BWC) dropped the series finale to UC Riverside (20-21, 7-5 BWC) on Sunday afternoon by the final of 6-0 at Riverside Sports Complex. The tandem of Justin Toerner and Albee Weiss accounted for four of the Matadors' five hits on the day as duo totaled two hits apiece. Six Matadors combined to toss 4.2 innings out of the bullpen while scattering five hits but CSUN was unable to erase an early UCR lead in the series' rubber match.

Seeking its second-straight conference series victory, CSUN threatened to crack the run column first for the first time in the series. Weiss singled to leadoff the second inning and Branden Berry reached base on a fielding error with one out to put runners at first and second base. Starter Angel Landazuri though picked up his defense by retiring the next two batters in succession to keep the game scoreless.

Coming off of back-to-back games where the home team scored runs in the first inning, Andrew Weston set down the UCR lineup in order in the first but he would run into trouble an inning later. Aaron Cisneros doubled, moved to third on a sacrice bunt and eventually scored on a Colby Schultz sacrifice fly to center field to give the Highlanders a 1-0 lead.

Weston pitched around a leadoff double in the third but the Highlanders came away with a huge fourth inning to take control of the game.

Cisnerous belted a one-out home run to right field to start the scoring in the frame and UCR later loaded the bases on a pair of singles and a walk. Nick Viola entered the fray in the inning and he appeared as though he would get CSUN out of the trouble without anymore damage, but a throwing error on a Matthew Eliis grounder brought home another run. With an extra out to play with, Mark Contreras followed with a single to right to bring home two more and make it 5-0.

On the flip side, the Matadors were unable to get anything going against Landazuri. The junior right-hander retired 12 of 13 batters after the the UCR error in the second. CSUN mounted a rally in the sixth after singles from Elias Orona and Weiss, which put runners at the corners but Landazuri fanned the next batter to get out of the jam. In seven innings of work, Landazuri allowed no runs, struck out six and scattered five hits.

The Highlanders added another run in the bottom of the sixth thanks to assistance from the elements. Two fly balls into the outfield were lost in the sun and dropped resulting in a pair of Highlander singles. Later in the frame, with runners at the corners, Drake Zarate singled in his team's sixth run on a drive into center field.

Over the last three innings, CSUN received base runners in the seventh and the ninth but double plays in each frame ended any potential Matador comeback.

Despite giving up five runs through four innings, the Matadors pitching staff combined to hold UC Riverside to just a run the rest of the way. Six Matadors consisting of Viola, Mathew Troupe, Joe Ryan, Rayne Raven, Matt Campbell and Ray Diaz collectively held UCR to one earned run on five hits. Ryan pitched the most out of the six by going two innings while allowing a run. Raven worked a shutout seventh, surrendering a hit.

The Matadors return home for their final homestand of the regular season beginning on Friday afternoon against Cal Poly. The opener of a three-game series is slated to start at 3 p.m.