BYU Wins Slugfest with CSUN 10-8

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---In a game with 18 runs, 25 hits, five home runs, 14 pitchers and over 300 pitches made, BYU scored four runs in the eighth to rally past CSUN Baseball (1-3) for a 10-8 victory and a series win on Monday afternoon at Matador Field. Trevor Casanova, Alvaro Rubalcaba and Brandon Bohning all picked up two hits while the trio of Casanova, Albee Weiss and Justin Toerner hit home runs in the contest. Cayce Rocco made his Matador debut out of the bullpen, tossing 1.2 shutout innings and Cassius Hamm worked a shutout frame, striking out two batters.

"I think this team can go up and down the lineup and hit," said head coach Greg Moore. "There's guys on the bench that can come in the game and put a great plate appearance together. We're going to be able to do that every day. Our key is will we come to play every day. If we do, we'll be just fine. If we stay with games in the final third, we're going to be able to do some good things out on that field.

"I just want to get better this weekend," added Moore about the series. "I want to look at what we did and say 'that's great.' Like I told the players, we're not going analyze it too much. We're going to get back to work on the things that we want to go do. We want good reps. We want to get better from this. I was happy about the series. I loved how both teams got after each other. This was a lot of fun."

After notching a victory in relief on Saturday, Hayden Shenefield earned the start on Monday and got off to a solid start by retiring the first two batters of the game but the Cougars would quickly turn things around in the first. Seven-straight Cougar batters reached on Shenefield, six of which on base hits. Mitch McIntyre capped off a five-run first with a two-run single.

The Matadors, who trailed already twice in the series by five runs, began to chip away in the second inning. With two outs and nobody on, Toerner stroke an 0-2 pitch over the right field wall to put CSUN on the scoreboard.

An inning later, the Matadors would close the gap as they did a little bit of two-out hitting of their own against BYU. Rubalcaba kept the third inning alive with a two-out single. After Joey Cooper was hit by a pitch, Casanova drove in Rubalcaba with a single through the left side. Weiss would step to the plate next and hit a three-run blast to left center field, his third home run of the series, to even the game at 5-5.

The combination of Theron Kay, Rocco and Walker Armstrong kept the Cougars off the scoreboard for three consecutive innings until the Cougars scratched across a run in the fifth on a double play with runners on the corners.

Trailing all game long, the Matadors took the lead in the seventh, again with clutch two-out hitting. With a runner at third and two outs, Brandon Bohning drove a double into the gap in right field to square the game once more (6-6). Rubalcaba would follow and battle to a 3-2 count before hitting the eighth pitch of the at bat into right field for an RBI double, giving CSUN a 7-6 lead.

A thorn on the side of the Matadors early in the game, McIntyre struck again in the eighth with a leadoff solo home run to even the game at 7-7. BYU would later load the bases in the inning, giving Nate Favero an opportunity to driving in the go-ahead run on a fielder's choice. David Clawson and Brian Hsu followed with a pair of two-out RBI hits to stretch the lead to 10-7.

After being knocked down making an out at the plate to end the eighth, Casanova struck for a leadoff home run in the bottom half of the frame.

CSUN made one last push in the ninth inning. Bohning hit a one-out single, and two batters later Cooper singled to center to put runners at the corner. Casanova stepped to the plate again but BYU right hander Drew Zimmerman struck him out to end the game.

Weiss' three RBI increased his season total to a team-best eight. As a team, the Matadors hit seven home runs in the BYU series and collected 18 extra base hits.

The Matadors return to action on Friday as CSUN opens up a three-game series against Manhattan at Matador Field. First pitch for the series opener is set for 2 p.m. Ross Porter will be on the call in an audio only broadcast on the CSUN Sports Network presented by Dignity Health.

BYU Wins Slugfest with CSUN 10-8

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Team Stats

Alvaro Rubalcaba

Trevor Casanova

Brandon Bohning

Joey Cooper

Players Mentioned

Walker Armstrong

Brandon Bohning

Trevor Casanova

Joey Cooper

Cassius Hamm

Theron Kay

Cayce Rocco

Alvaro Rubalcaba

Hayden Shenefield

Justin Toerner

Albee Weiss