Saturday, May 26
Los Angeles, CA
2:00 p.m.
California State University at Northridge
28-30
4
at
8
USC
26-28
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
CSUN
0
1
0
0
1
1
0
0
1
4
8
0
USC
0
0
0
0
2
4
2
0
X
8
14
3
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Bates, Solomon (6-3)
L: Vanderford, Tei (6-3)
Batting:
3B: Conlan, Riley 1
HR: Weiss, Albee 1
RBI: Weiss, Albee 1 ; Bohning, Brandon 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Weiss, Albee 1 ; Conlan, Riley 2 ; Rubalcaba, Alvaro 1
CS: Toerner, Justin 1
Batting:
HR: Nootbaar, Lars 1 ; Paulson, Dillon 2
RBI: Nootbaar, Lars 3 ; Paulson, Dillon 3 ; Murphy, Kaleb 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Sabol, Blake 1 ; Bushor, Chase 1 ; Nootbaar, Lars 2 ; Paulson, Dillon 2 ; Dubb, Stephen 1 ; Perez, Brandon 1
CS: Murphy, Kaleb 1
HBP: Armenta, Angelo 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
AB
4
R
2
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
RHP
/ Baseball
INF
/ BaseballINF
/ BaseballOF
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
OF/LHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballOF/C
/ Baseball
Photo by: Shae Hammond
Matadors Drop Season Finale at USC, 8-4
5/26/2018 5:18:00 PM | Baseball
NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Baseball (28-30) concluded the 2018 season with an 8-3 loss to USC on Saturday afternoon at Dedeaux Field. Five Matador seniors collected hits in their final collegiate games including Nolan Bumstead who went 2-for-4. Albee Weiss became the 10th Matador in team history to hit 20 home runs in a season with a solo shot in the sixth. The Matadors led 3-2 entering the bottom of the sixth, but the Trojans scored six over two innings to take control of the contest.Â
Â
The Matadors struck first in the second inning to take a 1-0 lead. With one out, Riley Conlan hammered his first career triple off the center field wall. Moments later, Conlan would touch home plate on a Solomon Bates balk.
Â
CSUN capitalized on a pair of Trojan errors to double its lead in the fifth. Alvaro Rubalcaba legged out a one-out infield single but an errant throw from second baseman Chase Bushor allowed Rubalcaba to advance to second base. Two batters later, Justin Toerner hit a towering flyball to deep right field that was dropped by Stephen Dubb, which brought home Rubalcaba.
Â
Matt Acosta cruised in the early going, facing the minimum through four innings. He induced three groundouts in the first inning and received a timely double play to end the second. He would go on to retire the sides in order in the third and fourth innings.
Â
The Trojans finally broke through in the fifth to even the game. Acosta retired Dillon Paulson to start the inning but gave up back-to-back singles to Stephen Dubb and Brandon Perez. After setting down Trevor Halsema, Ben Ramirez singled to load the bases. Hayden Shenefield would come out of the bullpen and surrender a game-tying two-run single to Kaleb Murphy. Casanova then helped the Matadors escape the inning by throwing out Murphy trying to steal second base.
Â
CSUN quickly reclaimed the lead in the top of the sixth on one swing of the bat. Falling into an 0-2 count, Weiss belted an opposite field home run to right field to put CSUN on top 3-2.Â
Â
USC would answer right back in the home half of the sixth. Shenefield yielded consecutive hits to start the inning prompting a change on the mound. After Tei Vanderford entered the game, Lars Nootbaar lined a three-run home run that just cleared the right field wall. Moments later, Paulson stroked a home run of his own to put USC ahead 6-3. Vanderford would allow two singles in the inning but he stranded both runners by retiring Murphy on a popup.Â
Â
Paulson struck again in the seventh inning on another long ball. With two outs and a runner at first base, Paulson hit the scoreboard in the right field to extend the lead to 8-3.Â
As they have done all season long, the Matadors battled to their final out. Conlan kicked off the ninth inning with a flyball to right center field. The ball would be dropped out of the reach of three Trojans, allowing Conlan to reach second base safely. Two batters later, Brandon Bohning laced an RBI single to left field, bringing CSUN to within four runs. A comeback though would not be in the cards as the Trojans' John Beller retired the next two batters in a row to secure a USC victory.Â
In their final CSUN appearance, Toerner, Weiss, Conlan, Bumstead, Rubalcaba, Kevin Riley, Alex Hull and Michael Russo all started. Along with his triple, Conlan scored twice in the game while Rubalcaba and Hull collected singles. Out of the bullpen, Shenefield recorded an out in his final CSUN game while Vanderford tossed 1.2 innings and Quint Robinson struck out a batter in the seventh.Â
Casanova finished off his outstanding first season with the Matadors 1-for-4 at the plate. He ends the campaign first in the Big West in doubles (18) and second in batting average (.345) and hits (77). His 77 hits on the season are the most by a Matador since Richard Cates tallied 83 in 2009.Â
Weiss homered for the 42nd time in his Matador career, tying him with John Balfanz (1985-87) for third place on the Matadors' all-time home run list. In the team's Division I era, Weiss has the second most home runs in Matador history, behind only Adam Kennedy (1995-97). Weiss also finished his career tied for fifth in career RBI with 153.Â
By virtue of a UC Irvine loss earlier in the day at UC Davis, the Matadors finished tied for third with the Anteaters in the Big West standings with a 13-11 conference record. The third place finish is the highest for the team since the 2002 season. The Matadors have also recorded 44 conference wins over the last four years, the most in the team's Big West history.Â
Â
Â
The Matadors struck first in the second inning to take a 1-0 lead. With one out, Riley Conlan hammered his first career triple off the center field wall. Moments later, Conlan would touch home plate on a Solomon Bates balk.
Â
CSUN capitalized on a pair of Trojan errors to double its lead in the fifth. Alvaro Rubalcaba legged out a one-out infield single but an errant throw from second baseman Chase Bushor allowed Rubalcaba to advance to second base. Two batters later, Justin Toerner hit a towering flyball to deep right field that was dropped by Stephen Dubb, which brought home Rubalcaba.
Â
Matt Acosta cruised in the early going, facing the minimum through four innings. He induced three groundouts in the first inning and received a timely double play to end the second. He would go on to retire the sides in order in the third and fourth innings.
Â
The Trojans finally broke through in the fifth to even the game. Acosta retired Dillon Paulson to start the inning but gave up back-to-back singles to Stephen Dubb and Brandon Perez. After setting down Trevor Halsema, Ben Ramirez singled to load the bases. Hayden Shenefield would come out of the bullpen and surrender a game-tying two-run single to Kaleb Murphy. Casanova then helped the Matadors escape the inning by throwing out Murphy trying to steal second base.
Â
CSUN quickly reclaimed the lead in the top of the sixth on one swing of the bat. Falling into an 0-2 count, Weiss belted an opposite field home run to right field to put CSUN on top 3-2.Â
Â
USC would answer right back in the home half of the sixth. Shenefield yielded consecutive hits to start the inning prompting a change on the mound. After Tei Vanderford entered the game, Lars Nootbaar lined a three-run home run that just cleared the right field wall. Moments later, Paulson stroked a home run of his own to put USC ahead 6-3. Vanderford would allow two singles in the inning but he stranded both runners by retiring Murphy on a popup.Â
Â
Paulson struck again in the seventh inning on another long ball. With two outs and a runner at first base, Paulson hit the scoreboard in the right field to extend the lead to 8-3.Â
As they have done all season long, the Matadors battled to their final out. Conlan kicked off the ninth inning with a flyball to right center field. The ball would be dropped out of the reach of three Trojans, allowing Conlan to reach second base safely. Two batters later, Brandon Bohning laced an RBI single to left field, bringing CSUN to within four runs. A comeback though would not be in the cards as the Trojans' John Beller retired the next two batters in a row to secure a USC victory.Â
In their final CSUN appearance, Toerner, Weiss, Conlan, Bumstead, Rubalcaba, Kevin Riley, Alex Hull and Michael Russo all started. Along with his triple, Conlan scored twice in the game while Rubalcaba and Hull collected singles. Out of the bullpen, Shenefield recorded an out in his final CSUN game while Vanderford tossed 1.2 innings and Quint Robinson struck out a batter in the seventh.Â
Casanova finished off his outstanding first season with the Matadors 1-for-4 at the plate. He ends the campaign first in the Big West in doubles (18) and second in batting average (.345) and hits (77). His 77 hits on the season are the most by a Matador since Richard Cates tallied 83 in 2009.Â
Weiss homered for the 42nd time in his Matador career, tying him with John Balfanz (1985-87) for third place on the Matadors' all-time home run list. In the team's Division I era, Weiss has the second most home runs in Matador history, behind only Adam Kennedy (1995-97). Weiss also finished his career tied for fifth in career RBI with 153.Â
By virtue of a UC Irvine loss earlier in the day at UC Davis, the Matadors finished tied for third with the Anteaters in the Big West standings with a 13-11 conference record. The third place finish is the highest for the team since the 2002 season. The Matadors have also recorded 44 conference wins over the last four years, the most in the team's Big West history.Â
Â
A Conversation With Dave Serrano
Friday, May 15
Baseball HC reveal 2019
Sunday, June 23
National Student-Athlete Day 2019 - Jayson Newman
Friday, April 05
CSUN Baseball - 27 Miles
Friday, November 09