Ninth-Inning Rally Lifts CSUN Past UC Davis

NORTHRIDGE, CA---

Down to their final outs and trailing by a run, CSUN Baseball (13-14, 1-1 BWC) put together a ninth-inning rally to upend UC Davis (7-13, 1-1 BWC), 4-2, on Saturday afternoon at Dobbins Stadium. Kevin Riley finished with two hits and a run scored while Nolan Bumstead collected two hits and an RBI. With perhaps the biggest hit of the game, Michael Russo roped a game-tying RBI double in the top of the ninth. Taking a no-decision, Samuel Myers tossed 7.1 quality innings, allowing two runs on three hits.

After dropping the series opener on Friday, the Matadors headed to the top of the ninth inning, trailing UC Davis 2-1. With one out and nobody on base, Dylan Alexander ignited the rally with double to left field. Moments later, Alvaro Rubalcaba worked a walk to bring up Russo to the plate. Looking for his first hit of the day, Russo fought to a 3-2 count before doubling down the left field line to plate the tying run.

Two batters later, a wild play resulted in two more runs coming across. With runners at the corners and two outs, Justin Toerner hit a groundball to short, which resulted in Toerner being called out at first base. However, after a meeting between the umpires, it was determined that shortstop Jacob Thomas' throw pulled the first baseman off the bag, making Toerner safe at first base. Before the play was overturned, two Matador runs came across, and as a result of the ruling on the field, both runners were ruled safe at the plate.

With the Matadors ahead 4-2, Conner O'Neil headed to the mound in the bottom of the ninth looking to shut the door. O'Neil walked the first batter but picked up a key 6-3 double play to record the first two outs. The Aggies would keep battling, however, as the next two batters reached safely, bringing the potential winning run to the plate. O'Neil finally nailed the down the win by retiring Guillermo Salazar on a flyout to center field.

Before the drama in the ninth, both teams battled in a pitcher's duel for eight innings.

Myers gave up two runs in the first inning on a sacrifice fly from Ryan Anderson and a home run by Cameron Olson, but he would rebound. Giving up a leadoff single in the third inning, Myers would go on to retire 15 of the next 17 batters. Also, following the first inning, only one Aggie batter reached base via a base hit.

On the flip side, UC Davis starter Orlando Razo scattered seven CSUN hits in the game but only surrendered a single run over eight innings.

Shutout through three innings, the Matadors broke through in the fourth to cut the Aggie lead in half. Following back-to-back singles from Riley and Albee Weiss, Bumstead rifled a single up the middle to bring home a run. Two batters later, Razo received outstanding defense in right field to prevent another run from coming in as Ryan Hooper made a leaping catch off a flyball from Rubalcaba.

The Matadors picked up a leadoff double in the sixth from Riley and a one-out single in the eighth from Fred Smith but were unable generate any scoring against Razo in either frames.

In the bottom of the eighth, Myers was liftted from the game with a runner at second base and one out. O'Neil entered the fray and sat down two of the next three batters as he stranded two runners on base. Tossing a scoreless ninth, O'Neil earned the victory by throwing 1.2 shutout innings.

Riley's double in the sixth was his team-leading 10th of the season. With his two-hit game, he also posted his 10th multiple-hit game of the campaign.

Toerner extended his streak of reaching base safely to eight games while Bumstead pushed his streak to six.

The Matadors seek a series victory Sunday afternoon against UC Davis. First pitch is slated for 1 p.m.

Ninth-Inning Rally Lifts CSUN Past UC Davis

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Team Stats

Kevin Riley

Nolan Bumstead

Justin Toerner

Fred Smith

Players Mentioned

Dylan Alexander

Nolan Bumstead

Samuel Myers

Conner O'Neil

Kevin Riley

Alvaro Rubalcaba

Michael Russo

Fred Smith

Justin Toerner

Albee Weiss