Matadors Travel to Purdue to Begin Final Road Trip of the Season

Thursday, May 19

Purdue, IN

4:00 p.m.

California State University at Northridge

Purdue

Photo by: CSUN Athletics

Matadors Travel to Purdue to Begin Final Road Trip of the Season

5/18/2016 12:41:00 PM | Baseball

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NORTHRIDGE, CA---

CSUN Baseball (31-17) begins its final road trip of the regular season with a four-game non-conference series at Purdue (7-43) starting on Thursday at 4 p.m PST. The series will continue on Friday at 4 p.m. and Saturday's contest will start at 11 a.m. The Matadors will wrap up the series with the Boilermakers on Sunday at 9 a.m. Purdue will provide live stats and audio while the Big Ten Network will provide video broadcasts available through paid subscription. CSUN's four games at Purdue begin a seven-game road trip that will culminate in the final three games of the regular season at UC Irvine from May 26-28.

The Matadors head into the weekend looking to bounce back from a 3-1 setback at home to Pepperdine. In their last home game of the 2016 season, CSUN was held to five hits and one run as the Waves used a three-run fourth inning to post the two-run victory. Six different Matador pitchers saw action in the non-conference contest including Rayne Raven, Nick Viola, Matt Campbell, Mathew Troupe, Ray Diaz and Angel Rodriguez. Diaz worked the most out of the six, tossing 3.1 shutout innings followed closely by Raven who started and pitched 3.0 innings. Justin Toerner earned his team-leading 30th walk in the game, which resulted in the Matadors' only run. With the bases loaded, Toerner worked a seven-pitch walk to force in a run that gave CSUN a 1-0 lead early on.

Despite the loss, the Matadors finished with a home record of 21-7, which is the team's most wins at Matador Field since 2001. CSUN dropped to 21-6 in non-conference play with the defeat on Tuesday but can match last season's 25 non-league wins with four victories against the Boilermakers.

Two Matadors are hitting over .300 on the season as leadoff hitter Fred Smith is batting a team-best .325 and cleanup batter Branden Berry is posting a .311 average. Smith is tied for the Big West Conference lead in total hits with 68 while he is second on the Matadors in runs scored with 32. On the season, Smith also leads the Matadors in multiple-hit games with 19. Berry continues to lead CSUN in a host of offensive categories including home runs (9), RBI (40), slugging percentage (.542), on-base percentage (.422) and doubles (12). On defense, Berry has also been strong, sporting a .992 fielding percentage at first base.

A consistent presence on the base paths as of late, Elias Orona has reached base safely in 12-straight games. Over that span, Orona has batted .371 to go along with a home run, eight RBI, six runs scored and four stolen bases. On the season, Orona is hitting .268 with 19 RBI, nine doubles and eight stolen bases.

CSUN sends right-handed pitcher Joe Ryan (1-0, 2.97 ERA) in the series opener against Purdue while right-hander Rodriguez (4-4, 3.39 ERA) starts Friday. Left-handed throwing Kenny Rosenberg (5-1, 3.36 ERA) will take the mound in game three and right-hander Andrew Weston (7-4, 3.13 ERA) starts on Sunday. This season, Ryan has struck out 27 in 30.1 innings over nine appearances. Rodriguez has been strong over his last five starts for CSUN, posting a 2.54 ERA in 28.1 innings. The southpaw Rosenberg leads the Big West Conference with 101 strikeouts after fanning seven batters last Saturday against UC Davis. Continuing to pitch especially well in a starting role, Weston is 4-2 with a 2.29 ERA in nine starts this season.

All-time, the Matadors are 3-0 against Purdue in the head-to-head series. The teams have not faced each other since the 2002 season where CSUN earned two victories in neutral site contests. CSUN defeated the Boilermakers in the teams' only meeting at Matador Field in 2001 by the final of 8-6 but both sides have never squared off in Purdue.

A Closer Look At Purdue
The Boilermakers are 7-43 on the season to go along with a 2-22 Big Ten Conference record. Purdue looks to snap a 15-game losing streak and a nine-game skid at home in their final four games of the season this weekend. Despite the losing streak, Purdue has competed in several close games including nine contests decided by three runs or less. On Tuesday, Purdue dropped a non-conference contest to IPFW, 6-5.

Leading the team in batting, senior outfielder Kyle Johnson is sporting a .317 average at the plate. Johnson has also scored 33 runs, hit six home runs and driven in 29. Senior first baseman Kyle Wood leads the Boilermakers with 33 runs batted in, 30 walks and 11 home runs while batting .277. Purdue will send right-handers throughout the series starting with senior Gavin Downs (1-5, 5.83 ERA) on Thursday, junior Matt Frawley (1-5, 3.14 ERA) on Friday and senior Shane Bryant (0-5, 4.89 ERA) in game three. Frawley leads the pitching staff with 50 strikeouts in over 66 innings of work. The tandem of Downs and Bryant has recorded 20 and 43 strikeouts respectively. Purdue will name its Sunday starter during the series.