CSUN Baseball Hosts UC Davis in Final Home Big West Series

Friday, May 13

Northridge, CA

3:00 p.m.

California State University at Northridge

UC Davis

Photo by: Paul Trafecanty

CSUN Baseball Hosts UC Davis in Final Home Big West Series

5/10/2016 1:17:00 PM | Baseball

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NORTHRIDGE, CA---

CSUN Baseball (28-16, 7-11 BWC) completes its Big West home schedule with a three-game series with UC Davis (16-26, 4-11 BWC) beginning on Friday at 3 p.m. The series will continue on Saturday and conclude on Sunday for Senior Day at Matador Field. The final two games of the series will start at 1 p.m. Friday and Saturday's games will be streamed live on the CSUN Sports Network via Big West.TV with Ross Porter on the call. Live audio will also be available for Sunday's series finale with Porter providing play-by-play.

Last weekend, the Matadors pulled off three come-from-behind victories in a series sweep of Cal Poly. CSUN defeated the Mustangs, 7-2, in game one, highlighted by a five-run fourth inning and Elias Orona's first career home run. In the middle game of the series, Branden Berry's two run double helped erase a late two-run deficit as the Matadors prevailed 5-3. On Sunday, CSUN rallied with a two-run ninth capped off by Dylan Alexander's walk-off single to upend Cal Poly, 2-1. With the sweep, the Matadors secured both their first three-game sweep of a Big West Conference opponent since 2013 and its first series victory of Cal Poly in four seasons.

CSUN's bullpen was strong the entire series, allowing no runs in 12.1 innings. Nick Viola earned his first victory of the season with 5.1 shutout innings in game one of the series and Samuel Myers worked a shutout frame in the second game to post his second win in 2016. Joe Ryan tossed 2.1 scoreless innings, retiring all seven batters he faced to earn a win in the finale.

Berry continues to lead the Big West Conference in both home runs (8) and RBI (37) while also being third in slugging percentage (.525) and eighth in on-base percentage (.418). Fred Smith is second in the conference in total hits with 64 and seventh in batting with a .332 average at the plate. The Big West leader in stolen bases, Yusuke Akitoshi has 21 on the season in 23 attempts while also sitting second in the conference in triples (4) and sixth in runs (34). Justin Toerner leads the conference in triples with five and he is fourth in the Big West in walks with 29.

Right-hander Angel Rodriguez (4-4, 3.32 ERA) will start the opener of the three-game series against UC Davis, followed by left-hander Kenny Rosenberg (4-1, 3.16 ERA) in game two and Andrew Weston (6-4, 3.13 ERA) in the finale. Rodriguez has allowed six runs over his last 25 innings of work while Rosenberg moved his conference-leading strikeout total to 94 with four against Cal Poly. Weston continues to be especially effective in a starting role as he boasts a 2.14 ERA in 33.2 innings across eight starts.

Sunday's series finale with the Aggies, represents the final home conference game for seven Matador seniors, which include Rodriguez, Akitoshi, Berry, Viola, Nolan Flashman, Rayne Raven and Spencer O'Neil. CSUN Athletics will celebrate the careers of the team's senior class in a special ceremony prior to first pitch on Sunday. The senior class has helped lead the Matadors to 61 wins over the last two seasons and to the team's best 21-game start (18-3) in 20 years this season.

UC Davis leads the all-time series with the Matadors, 23-11, after taking two of three games last season at home. CSUN has dropped six of the last nine meetings at Matador Field in the series.

A Closer Look at UC Davis
UC Davis is 16-26 with a 4-11 record in Big West Conference play this season. On the road, the Aggies are 4-10 after defeating Sacramento State, 7-1, on Tuesday. Over their last eight, the Aggies are 7-1 including posting their first Big West Conference series victory last weekend against nationally-ranked UC Santa Barbara.

Junior Mark Cardinalli leads the team with a .327 average at the plate to go along with a home run, 16 RBI and 32 runs scored. Senior Cameron Olson and freshman Logan Denholm are tied for the team lead in home runs with three. Olson is batting .318 with 24 RBI and Denholm is hitting .290 with 25 runs batted in.

Left handed freshman Robert Garcia (3-2, 2.34 ERA) starts in the opener followed by senior lefty Spencer Henderson (1-3, 5.68 ERA) and senior right-hander Nat Hamby (3-4, 5.09 ERA). Garcia leads the team with 65 strikeouts while batters are hitting .193 against him on the season. Hamby has posted 38 strikeouts in 53.0 innings and Henderson has recorded 24 strikeouts in 31.2 innings of work.