CSUN Loses High-Scoring Battle with No. 13 Cal State Fullerton

Saturday, May 20

Northridge, CA

1:00 p.m.

California State University at Northridge

25-29, 11-12

#13 Cal State Fullerton

33-18, 14-6

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Cal State Fullerton	1	0	2	0	2	4	4	0	3	16	15	0
CSUN	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	2	0	7	13	1

Photo by: CSUN Athletics

CSUN Loses High-Scoring Battle with No. 13 Cal State Fullerton

5/20/2017 5:17:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

NORTHRIDGE, CA---

CSUN Baseball (25-29, 11-12 BWC) fell for the second-straight day to No. 13 Cal State Fullerton (33-18, 14-6 BWC), losing 16-7 on Saturday afternoon at Matador Field. Alvaro Rubalcaba finished 2-for-5 at the plate with three RBI and a run scored while Justin Toerner collected two hits and two RBI and Nick Sablock tallied two hits, two runs scored and an RBI. Coming just four outs away from knocking off the nationally-ranked Titans on Friday, CSUN was unable cool off a hot-hitting Titan team in game two.

Riding the high of a comeback win in the opener of the series, Fullerton would be led by leadoff hitter Scott Hurst on Saturday. Hitting four home runs in the contest including driving in seven runs, Hurst gave the Matadors trouble all afternoon. Hurst led off the game with a solo home run and he blasted his second home run, a two-run shot, two innings later to extended the Titan lead to 3-0.

CSUN fell behind by five runs in the fifth as Sahid Valenzuela collected a two-run single. Fullerton added to its lead in the sixth after RBI singles from Chris Hudgins and Chris Prescott, and a costly CSUN fielding error that plated two more runs. In the seventh, the Titans scored four more runs to take a 13-0 lead, capped off by a Hurst three-run home run.

Limited to three hits over the first six innings by starter John Gavin, the Matadors would find success against the Fullerton bullpen in the late innings.

In the home half of the seventh, Sablock put the Matadors on the scoreboard with a pinch-hit RBI single and Rubalcaba followed suit with another RBI single moments later. Justin Toerner drove in two more runs with a rocket down the field line, and Riley Conlan stepped off the bench and delivered another RBI single to cut the deficit to 13-5.

The Matadors trimmed into the lead further in the eighth. After Harrison Hart and Sablock singled, and Jayson Newman worked a walk to load the bases, Rubalcaba singled through the left side to bring CSUN within 13-7. The Matadors would load the bases again with two outs, but Conlan struck out to end the frame.

With its lead cut to six, the Titans added three insurance runs in the ninth inning to put the game out of reach. Hurst blasted his fourth home run of the game with two outs and the tandem of Tristan Hildebrandt and Taylor Bryant cashed in on RBI singles.

Scoring seven times over the last three innings, the Matadors received five hits from their bench down the stretch. Along with Sablock's two hits, Conlan, Newman and Alex Hull all had hits in the contest.

With his big day at the plate, Rubalcaba stretched his on-base streak to a season-high 18 games. Although his 14-game hitting streak was snapped in the game, Nolan Bumstead reached base safely via a walk to extend his on-base streak to 16 games.

The Matadors will wrap up the 2017 season on Sunday afternoon against Cal State Fullerton at 1 p.m. CSUN will honor its senior class consisting of Dylan Alexander, William Colantono, Conner O'Neil, Fred Smith, Samuel Myers and Drake Atlee in a special pregame ceremony.