Matadors Lose Series Finale at Purdue, 8-0

Sunday, May 22

Purdue, IN

9:00 a.m.

California State University at Northridge

32-20

Purdue

10-44

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	3	0
Purdue	0	0	0	1	0	4	3	0	X	8	11	0

Photo by: BHEPhotos

Matadors Lose Series Finale at Purdue, 8-0

5/22/2016 11:44:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

NORTHRIDGE, CA---

CSUN Baseball (32-20) dropped its series finale to Purdue (10-44), 8-0, on Sunday afternoon at Alexander Field. The loss gives CSUN only its second non-conference series loss of the season and drops the Matadors to 22-9 against non-conference opponents. Andrew Weston kept the Matadors in the game, surrendering three runs over 5.1 innings but the offense would be limited to three hits in the eight-run defeat.

The game took the form of a pitcher's duel for most of the contest with each starting pitcher trading shutout frames. Weston put up three-straight shutout innings to start the game, preserving a 0-0 game. He continued his quality pitching through the next two frames as only gave up one run through five innings of work. In contrast, Purdue starter Mike Lutz surrendered little on the mound in 5.2 innings. Lutz allowed just two hits and a walk to the Matadors, shutting them out throughout his entire time on the mound.

The Matadors had an opportunity to crack the scoring column in the first inning after Elias Orona singled, reached second base on a wild pitch and advanced to third on a groundball with two outs. However, Lutz would get out the jam after Justin Toerner grounded out to first.

With the game scoreless heading to the bottom of the fourth, Purdue broke the 0-0 tie right off the bat. Kyle Johnson deposited a 2-1 pitch over the right field wall to give the Boilermakers the one-run lead. Weston gave up a one-out double to Kyle Wood but escaped further trouble by retiring the next two batters to end the frame.

Lutz cruised along after giving up the hit to Orona as he set down 10-straight batters until walking Toerner with two outs in the fourth. The right-hander recovered nicely after the walk to retire the next four in a row, keeping Purdue ahead 1-0 going to the sixth.

The Matadors finally knocked Lutz out of the game in top half of the sixth after Fred Smith doubled with one out and Elias Orona moved Smith up to third on a grounder to the right side. Tanner Andrews entered the game and battled Yusuke Akitoshi to a 3-2 count before striking out the Matador senior.

After holding the Matadors off the run column in the top of the inning, Purdue broke open a close game in the bottom of the sixth. Weston hit Johnson to start the frame and walked Wood to put two runners on with nobody out. Following a sacrifice bunt that moved both runners up, Justin Gubser drove in Johnson with a single to left. Purdue picked up its third run on a sacrifice bunt from Cody Strong and two more came in later on RBI hits from James Jewell and Brett Carlson.

Ahead by five, Purdue added three more insurance runs to put the game out of reach in the seventh. With two runners on and nobody out, Wood hit a three-run shot to right center to increase the lead to 8-0.

CSUN picked up a two-out single in the seventh and a leadoff walk in the ninth but Andrews held the Matadors scoreless in the final innings to secure the victory for the Boilermakers.

On Sunday, Toerner extended his streak of reaching base to 12-straight games with a walk and Smith's double in the sixth increased his on-base streak to 11 consecutive contests.

The Matadors return to the field against UC Irvine for their final three games of the regular season. The series will start on Thursday evening with first pitch slated for 6:30 p.m.