Matadors Fall Twice to Saint Mary's

NORTHRIDGE, CA---

CSUN Baseball (11-9) dropped both games to Saint Mary's in its Saturday afternoon doubleheader at Matador Field. The Gaels shut out the Matadors in the opener, 10-0, and pulled out a 4-3 win in game two in 10 innings. The Matadors received quality pitching from both of their starters as Samuel Myers tossed 6.2 innings allowing four runs on four hits while Tei Vanderford logged 8.0 innings and surrendered three runs on five hits. Albee Weiss drove in all three runs on the day and the tandem of Justin Toerner and Kevin Riley collected two hits apiece in game two.

"We just didn't execute," said head coach Greg Moore. "We had plenty of chances here in the second game and didn't push them across when we had the chance. I thought in the ninth, we had two good at bats to get us started but we didn't capitalize. Tei [Vanderford] and Sam [Myers] did a nice job. They set up for a good bullpen day tomorrow. They did what they wanted to do. I liked how both of them pitched."

In the opener, the Matadors and Gaels battled in a close game for two-thirds of the way through. Myers gave up a leadoff home run to Joey Fiske in the first but rebounded by retiring 15 of the next 16 batters he faced. During the span, Myers only allowed a walk to Kevin Milam in the top of the second inning.

While Myers kept the Gaels at bay, the Matadors would be unable to figure out starter Jake Valdez. Retiring the first 10 batters of the game, Valdez tossed 8.0 shutout innings while allowing two hits.

CSUN threatened in the fourth inning against Valdez after Fred Smith singled and Riley walked with one out. However, Valdez retired the next two batters in order to get out of trouble. After the fourth, Valdez would sit down nine of the next 11 batters to keep the Matadors scoreless through eight innings.

Ahead 1-0 going to the seventh, the Gaels broke open the game with a five-run frame. Joe Vranesh homered to lead off the inning and the next two batters would reach safely, prompting a move to the bullpen. Kyle Nicol relieved Myers in the inning but Saint Mary's would greet the right hander unkindly. Fisked doubled in two runs with a drive into right center and Brett Rasso followed with a two-run home run to push the lead to 6-0.

The Gaels added four more runs in the eighth to put the game out of reach. Fiske picked up his fourth and fifth RBI in the game with a two-run single in the frame while Rasso drove in his third run on a fielder's choice.

Looking to bounce back, the Matadors struck first early in game two. After Toerner singled to start the game and later advanced to third base with one out, Weiss hit a sacrifice fly to center field to put the Matadors on top 1-0.

Saint Mary's evened the game quickly in the second inning as Jackson Thoreson homered to right field off Vanderford. The Matador junior right hander would respond by retiring seven of the next eight batters to keep the game tied heading to the fifth.

The Gaels took their first lead of the contest in the top of the fifth on a two-out RBI single from Logan Steinberg but the Matadors countered with two runs of their own in the bottom of the fifth to go back in front 3-2. Moments after the Gaels turned a double play in the fifth, Riley Conlan singled to put runners at first and second base. Weiss stepped to the plate and laced a drive in the gap in right center field for a two-run triple.

The seesaw battle continued in the sixth as Saint Mary's again tied the game. With two outs and a runner at second, Zach Kirtley doubled to right center to even the game at 3-3.

Vanderford would shut out the Gaels in the seventh and eighth innings, and Conner O'Neil received a timely double play in the ninth to keep Saint Mary's off the scoreboard.

The game would enter extra innings with O'Neil still on the mound. As they had done throughout the series, the Gaels would again lean on the long ball to take back the lead. Battling O'Neil to a 2-2 count, Vranesh homered to left field to put SMC ahead 4-3.

The Matadors looked to tie the game once more in the 10th after Smith walked and Riley was hit by a pitch. However, reliever Milam sat down the next three batters in order to seal the win for Saint Mary's.

In the doubleheader, Nolan Bumstead and Riley each extended their respective on base streaks to 13 and 11. Smith also pushed his streak of reaching base safely to eight straight.

The Matadors look for the series split on Sunday afternoon against Saint Mary's. First pitch is slated for 1 p.m. The game will be streamed live on the CSUN Sports Network via Big West.TV with Ross Porter on the call.

Matadors Fall Twice to Saint Mary's

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Team Stats

Fred Smith

Alex Hull

Nick Sablock

Justin Toerner

Players Mentioned

Nolan Bumstead

Riley Conlan

Samuel Myers

Kyle Nicol

Conner O'Neil

Kevin Riley

Fred Smith

Justin Toerner

Tei Vanderford

Albee Weiss