Matadors Drop Big West Opener to UC Davis

NORTHRIDGE, CA---

CSUN Baseball (12-14, 0-1 BWC) suffered an 8-2 loss to UC Davis (7-12, 1-0 BWC) in both teams' Big West Conference opener on Friday afternoon at Dobbins Stadium. Kevin Riley finished 1-for-4 at the plate with a triple and an RBI while five other Matadors picked up hits in the ballgame. Tei Vandeford tossed seven innings for the sixth time this season as he allowed eight runs. The Aggies rode a pair of big innings and quality work from their pitching staff to defeat the Matadors in the series opener.

Vanderford got off to a strong start in the contest, retiring six of the first seven batters and blanking the Aggies through two innings. However, UC Davis would break through in the scoring column beginning in the third and put up a pair of crooked number innings to take control of the game.

Ryan Hooper led off the third with a triple and he later scored the game's first run on an RBI single from Brad Pluschkell. The Aggies added two more runs to take a 3-0 lead as Jacob Thomas hit an RBI double and Ignacio Diaz roped an RBI single.

UC Davis would be far from done, however, as four more came across in the fourth after a series of two-out hits. Caleb Van Blake doubled his team's fourth run in the bottom of the fourth and the trio of Cameron Olson, Diaz and Alex Aguiar all hit two-out RBI singles to extend the lead to 7-0.

The Aggies added to their advantage in the fifth on a Hooper solo home run to left field.

Meanwhile, the Matadors were unable to generate much offense against starter Robert Garcia. The left hander allowed just two hits through five innings as he did not allow a Matador base runner to reach scoring position over that span.

CSUN finally broke up Garcia's shutout bid in the sixth after Justin Toerner was hit by a pitch with one out. Two batters later, Riley stroked his first triple of the season to right field plating Toerner. Seconds later, Riley touched home plate as well on a Garcia wild pitch.

Garcia finished his afternoon giving up two runs on three hits over seven innings of work.

Despite the big deficit, the Matadors continued to battle in the late innings. Four batters reached base in the final three innings including the first two to start the eighth, but the Aggie bullpen would hold off a CSUN rally down the stretch.

Riley's triple in the sixth drove in his 20th RBI of the season. He is also the fourth Matador to record a triple this season.

Jayson Newman collected his first hit of the season in the ninth inning on a pinch hit single.

The Matadors continue their three-game series with UC Davis on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m.

Matadors Drop Big West Opener to UC Davis

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Team Stats

Justin Toerner

Fred Smith

Kevin Riley

Nolan Bumstead

Players Mentioned

Nolan Bumstead

Jayson Newman

Kevin Riley

Justin Toerner