Friday, April 16
Northridge, Calif.
3:00 p.m.
California State University at Northridge
vs
UC Riverside
Photo by: Braden Villanueva
Matadors Begin Homestand Against UC Riverside
4/14/2021 12:13:00 PM | Baseball
FULL GAME NOTES
NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Baseball (6-10, 6-10 Big West) kicks off an eight-game homestand this Friday when it hosts UC Riverside (7-16, 5-11 Big West) in the first of a four-game series. The opener is set for 3 p.m. while Saturday will be a doubleheader starting at 11 a.m. The teams wrap up the series with a Sunday matchup at 1 p.m. Audio broadcasts will stream at GoMatadors.com/Radio for all four games with Ghizal Hasan on the call. Sunday's finale will video stream on BigWest.TV.
Probable Pitching Matchups
UC Riverside at CSUN - April 16-18
RHP Zach Jacobs (1-1, 4.42 ERA) vs. RHP Blake Sodersten (0-1, 4.32 ERA)
RHP Tucker Juline (1-1, 3.90 ERA) vs. RHP Gavin Lizik (0-1, 19.50 ERA)
RHP Tyler Frazier (0-1, 7.50 ERA) vs. LHP Zuko Tillman (0-3, 15.43 ERA)
RHP Kyle Anderson (1-0, 3.18 ERA) vs. RHP Blaine Traxel 2-0, 4.75 ERA)
Before Sunday's series finale, Matador fans can tune in to watch a virtual pre-game show starting at 12:15 p.m. on BigWest.TV. Fans have the opportunity to meet some of the student-athletes on the team, guess Matador trivia and catch up with a baseball alum.
The Matadors are coming off a hard-fought four-game series at No. 25 UC Santa Barbara last weekend that saw the Gauchos take three of four games. CSUN dropped the first three games in the series, 5-4, 11-1 and 11-3 before salvaging the finale with a 7-3 victory. The win over UCSB was the Matadors' third win over a Top 30 team this season.
CSUN took a 4-2 lead into the bottom of the sixth in the opener before a two-run homer in the inning tied the game. Blake Sodersten would pitch a career-best 8.2 innings and exited the game with the score tied at 4-4. Moments later, the Gauchos collected the winning hit on an infield single from Gianni Bloom to spoil Sodersten's outing.
After UCSB swept a Saturday doubleheader, the Matadors bounced back with a Sunday win behind Blaine Traxel's complete game. Traxel pitched a career-high nine innings, allowing three runs to go with seven strikeouts. The only blemish against Traxel came in the sixth on a three-run homer but the right-hander rebounded by retiring the next 11 batters to finish the game. Freshman Luke Powell recorded a season-high three hits while freshman Ryan Ball collected two hits including a solo home run.
Despite seeing his hit streak end at 14 games over the weekend, Kai Moody remains the team leader in batting average at .417. Moody, who is second in the Big West in batting, leads CSUN in runs (13), hits (25), walks (12) and on-base percentage (.500). On the year, Moody has hit safely in 15 of 16 games and produced a team-best seven multiple-hit games.
Heading into the weekend, Ball has reached base safely in 15-straight games. Ball has batted .291 with a team-high 10 RBI thus far this season. Powell has earned three starts over the last four games and has seven hits over his last 14 at-bats to improve his season average to .348. Jose Ruiz, who hit his first home run of the season on Saturday, has batted .333 on the year with seven RBI.
In a series dating back to 1959, CSUN leads UC Riverside 122-93-1 all-time. The Matadors swept the last series between the two teams in 2019 at Matador Field, winning 14-5, 25-1 and 11-6. CSUN has won the last five games in the series and eight of nine. The Matadors have also won the last three series between the two teams including a road series in 2018. Jose Ruiz is 5-for-16 (.313) with eight runs, five RBI and two home runs in five career games against UCR. CSUN is seeking its first series win of the season this weekend.
A Closer Look at UC Riverside
The Highlanders are 5-11 in Big West play after dropping three of four games against Hawai'i last weekend. UCR had dropped five-straight games before winning Sunday's series finale over the Rainbow Warriors, 9-2. The Highlanders are 3-9 on the road this season. Interim head coach Justin Johnson is in his first year leading the Highlander program after previously serving as an assistant coach.
Travis Bohall leads the team in batting (.348), runs (20), hits (32) and stolen bases (10). Bohall is followed closely by Ely Stuart who is batting .347 with 14 RBI and 13 runs scored. Dylan Orick is tops on the team in RBI (17) and home runs (2) to go with a .294 batting average. On the pitching side, Zach Jacobs (1-1) has registered a team-high 29 strikeouts over 36.2 innings.
#UniteTheValley
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NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Baseball (6-10, 6-10 Big West) kicks off an eight-game homestand this Friday when it hosts UC Riverside (7-16, 5-11 Big West) in the first of a four-game series. The opener is set for 3 p.m. while Saturday will be a doubleheader starting at 11 a.m. The teams wrap up the series with a Sunday matchup at 1 p.m. Audio broadcasts will stream at GoMatadors.com/Radio for all four games with Ghizal Hasan on the call. Sunday's finale will video stream on BigWest.TV.
Probable Pitching Matchups
UC Riverside at CSUN - April 16-18
RHP Zach Jacobs (1-1, 4.42 ERA) vs. RHP Blake Sodersten (0-1, 4.32 ERA)
RHP Tucker Juline (1-1, 3.90 ERA) vs. RHP Gavin Lizik (0-1, 19.50 ERA)
RHP Tyler Frazier (0-1, 7.50 ERA) vs. LHP Zuko Tillman (0-3, 15.43 ERA)
RHP Kyle Anderson (1-0, 3.18 ERA) vs. RHP Blaine Traxel 2-0, 4.75 ERA)
Before Sunday's series finale, Matador fans can tune in to watch a virtual pre-game show starting at 12:15 p.m. on BigWest.TV. Fans have the opportunity to meet some of the student-athletes on the team, guess Matador trivia and catch up with a baseball alum.
The Matadors are coming off a hard-fought four-game series at No. 25 UC Santa Barbara last weekend that saw the Gauchos take three of four games. CSUN dropped the first three games in the series, 5-4, 11-1 and 11-3 before salvaging the finale with a 7-3 victory. The win over UCSB was the Matadors' third win over a Top 30 team this season.
CSUN took a 4-2 lead into the bottom of the sixth in the opener before a two-run homer in the inning tied the game. Blake Sodersten would pitch a career-best 8.2 innings and exited the game with the score tied at 4-4. Moments later, the Gauchos collected the winning hit on an infield single from Gianni Bloom to spoil Sodersten's outing.
After UCSB swept a Saturday doubleheader, the Matadors bounced back with a Sunday win behind Blaine Traxel's complete game. Traxel pitched a career-high nine innings, allowing three runs to go with seven strikeouts. The only blemish against Traxel came in the sixth on a three-run homer but the right-hander rebounded by retiring the next 11 batters to finish the game. Freshman Luke Powell recorded a season-high three hits while freshman Ryan Ball collected two hits including a solo home run.
Despite seeing his hit streak end at 14 games over the weekend, Kai Moody remains the team leader in batting average at .417. Moody, who is second in the Big West in batting, leads CSUN in runs (13), hits (25), walks (12) and on-base percentage (.500). On the year, Moody has hit safely in 15 of 16 games and produced a team-best seven multiple-hit games.
Heading into the weekend, Ball has reached base safely in 15-straight games. Ball has batted .291 with a team-high 10 RBI thus far this season. Powell has earned three starts over the last four games and has seven hits over his last 14 at-bats to improve his season average to .348. Jose Ruiz, who hit his first home run of the season on Saturday, has batted .333 on the year with seven RBI.
In a series dating back to 1959, CSUN leads UC Riverside 122-93-1 all-time. The Matadors swept the last series between the two teams in 2019 at Matador Field, winning 14-5, 25-1 and 11-6. CSUN has won the last five games in the series and eight of nine. The Matadors have also won the last three series between the two teams including a road series in 2018. Jose Ruiz is 5-for-16 (.313) with eight runs, five RBI and two home runs in five career games against UCR. CSUN is seeking its first series win of the season this weekend.
A Closer Look at UC Riverside
The Highlanders are 5-11 in Big West play after dropping three of four games against Hawai'i last weekend. UCR had dropped five-straight games before winning Sunday's series finale over the Rainbow Warriors, 9-2. The Highlanders are 3-9 on the road this season. Interim head coach Justin Johnson is in his first year leading the Highlander program after previously serving as an assistant coach.
Travis Bohall leads the team in batting (.348), runs (20), hits (32) and stolen bases (10). Bohall is followed closely by Ely Stuart who is batting .347 with 14 RBI and 13 runs scored. Dylan Orick is tops on the team in RBI (17) and home runs (2) to go with a .294 batting average. On the pitching side, Zach Jacobs (1-1) has registered a team-high 29 strikeouts over 36.2 innings.
#UniteTheValley
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