Sunday, April 3
Irvine, Calif.
1:00 p.m.
California State University at Northridge
15-11, 4-5
5
at
6
UC Irvine
16-10, 6-3
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
CSUN
0
0
2
1
2
0
0
0
0
5
11
0
UC Irvine
0
1
1
0
0
0
1
0
3
6
10
0
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Taylor, Troy (1-1)
L: Traxel, Blaine (3-2)
Batting:
2B: Sojka, Andrew 2 ; Moody, Kai 1 ; Bohning, Brandon 1
RBI: Sojka, Andrew 2 ; Moody, Kai 1 ; West, Bart 1
SH: Sojka, Andrew 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Sojka, Andrew 1 ; Moody, Kai 1 ; West, Bart 1 ; Bohning, Brandon 1 ; Tarlow, Graysen 1
CS: West, Bart 1 ; Barraza, Nathan 1
Batting:
2B: Fitzgerald, Ben 2
3B: Spillane, Luke 1 ; Nakawake, Taishi 1
HR: McCaffrey, Thomas 1
RBI: Fitzgerald, Ben 1 ; Church, Nathan 1 ; Torres, Justin 2 ; McCaffrey, Thomas 1 ; Smith, Myles 1
SH: Nakawake, Taishi 1
SF: Torres, Justin 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Fitzgerald, Ben 2 ; Spillane, Luke 1 ; McCaffrey, Thomas 1 ; Smith, Myles 1 ; Nakawake, Taishi 1
SB: Spillane, Luke 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
2
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
INF
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
OF
/ BaseballOF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
Photo by: Mikaella Salazar
Matadors Drop Series Finale at UC Irvine 6-5
4/3/2022 4:22:00 PM | Baseball
IRVINE, Calif.---CSUN Baseball (15-11, 4-5 Big West) surrendered three runs in the bottom of the ninth to UC Irvine (16-10, 6-3 Big West) in a 6-5 loss on Sunday at Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark. Bart West went 3-for-4 with an RBI while Andrew Sojka had two hits and two RBI. Ryan Wentz received a no-decision after tossing six innings and allowing two runs to go with six strikeouts.
UC Irvine plated the game's first run in the bottom of the second inning when Luke Spillane tripled and later scored on a groundout from Myles Smith. The Matadors would answer back though in the top of the third inning after loading the bases on a double and two walks. Sojka would double in two runs with a shot through the right side giving CSUN a 2-1 lead.
The Anteaters responded quickly in the home half of the third to even the game at 2-2. Ben Fitzgerald doubled and later scored on a sacrifice fly from Justin Torres. On the Torres flyball, center fielder Jakob Simons prevented a potential big inning by running down and making an outstanding catch.
Much like the entire series, the Matadors again fought back in front in the top of the fourth. West started the inning with a single before eventually moving up to third base on a two-out single from Brandon Bohning. Moments later, West touched home plate on a wild pitch, giving the Matadors the lead at 3-2.
CSUN continued to apply pressure on the UCI pitching staff in the fifth inning. Back-to-back doubles from Sojka and Kai Moody resulted in the Matadors' fourth run of the afternoon. Later in the frame, West singled home Moody for a 5-2 CSUN lead.
After the third inning, Wentz worked out of a jam in the fourth, stranding a pair of runners in scoring position. The right hander would then blank the Anteaters over the next two innings, only allowing a pair of walks over that span. The Matadors turned a key 6-4-3 double play in the fifth inning in support of Wentz.
The Matadors had an opportunity to break open the game in the top of the seventh when they loaded the bases with one out. However, Jacob King came out of the bullpen to retire Gabe Gonzalez and West to escape trouble.Â
Relieving Wentz in the seventh, Xavier Martinez gave up a one-out triple to Taishi Nakawake before striking out Fitzgerald for the second out of the inning. However, Nathan Church delievered with an RBI single to bring UCI to within 5-3. Martinez would bounce back to retire the next four batters he faced to keep CSUN ahead heading to the ninth.
Down to its last three outs, UCI picked up a leadoff homer from Thomas McCaffrey that trimmed the lead to 5-4. Smith followed with a single, forcing Blaine Traxel to come out of the bullpen. Traxel retired the next batter but Fitzgerald evened the game with an RBI double. Two batters later, Torres came through with a game-winning RBI single to send UC Irvine to victory.
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GAME NOTES
After two more hits on Sunday, Sojka finished 8-of-16 in the three-game series with six runs and four RBI.
The Matadors outhit the Anteaters 43-33 in the series. On the defensive side, CSUN committed zero errors over the three games, which spanned 35 innings.
Sunday is the fourth walk-off loss the Matadors have suffered this season.
ACCORDING TO COACH DAVE SERRANO
"As bad as we feel right now, and we do feel bad, we won another series against a good opponent on the road. I really feel a lot will be talked about the ninth inning and the three runs they scored to leave us on the field. I felt the opportunities that were given up by us throughout the whole time, many times bases loaded – this team has a passion for one another, every guy is trying to do something special for their teammates, and I think sometimes that gets in our way a little bit. They just have to do their little part. That's the thing we have to go back and continue to work on and get better at. In a building process, it takes a lot of things to learn how to sweep good opponents. We had it right there for the taking, we just didn't do enough to sweep a good team. Losses are always hard for me and they're hard on the guys, especially when they invest so much into this but we've got to learn from it, build off it and not let this trend in the opposite way. Again, disappointed in today's game with the way it ended up, but we also got to look at the positives and we won a series on the road that hopefully bodes well down the line."
UP NEXT
CSUN opens a three-game series on Friday at Matador Field against UC Santa Barbara at 3 p.m. Ghizal Hasan will be on the call at GoMatadors.com/Radio.
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#UniteTheValley
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UC Irvine plated the game's first run in the bottom of the second inning when Luke Spillane tripled and later scored on a groundout from Myles Smith. The Matadors would answer back though in the top of the third inning after loading the bases on a double and two walks. Sojka would double in two runs with a shot through the right side giving CSUN a 2-1 lead.
The Anteaters responded quickly in the home half of the third to even the game at 2-2. Ben Fitzgerald doubled and later scored on a sacrifice fly from Justin Torres. On the Torres flyball, center fielder Jakob Simons prevented a potential big inning by running down and making an outstanding catch.
Much like the entire series, the Matadors again fought back in front in the top of the fourth. West started the inning with a single before eventually moving up to third base on a two-out single from Brandon Bohning. Moments later, West touched home plate on a wild pitch, giving the Matadors the lead at 3-2.
CSUN continued to apply pressure on the UCI pitching staff in the fifth inning. Back-to-back doubles from Sojka and Kai Moody resulted in the Matadors' fourth run of the afternoon. Later in the frame, West singled home Moody for a 5-2 CSUN lead.
After the third inning, Wentz worked out of a jam in the fourth, stranding a pair of runners in scoring position. The right hander would then blank the Anteaters over the next two innings, only allowing a pair of walks over that span. The Matadors turned a key 6-4-3 double play in the fifth inning in support of Wentz.
The Matadors had an opportunity to break open the game in the top of the seventh when they loaded the bases with one out. However, Jacob King came out of the bullpen to retire Gabe Gonzalez and West to escape trouble.Â
Relieving Wentz in the seventh, Xavier Martinez gave up a one-out triple to Taishi Nakawake before striking out Fitzgerald for the second out of the inning. However, Nathan Church delievered with an RBI single to bring UCI to within 5-3. Martinez would bounce back to retire the next four batters he faced to keep CSUN ahead heading to the ninth.
Down to its last three outs, UCI picked up a leadoff homer from Thomas McCaffrey that trimmed the lead to 5-4. Smith followed with a single, forcing Blaine Traxel to come out of the bullpen. Traxel retired the next batter but Fitzgerald evened the game with an RBI double. Two batters later, Torres came through with a game-winning RBI single to send UC Irvine to victory.
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GAME NOTES
After two more hits on Sunday, Sojka finished 8-of-16 in the three-game series with six runs and four RBI.
The Matadors outhit the Anteaters 43-33 in the series. On the defensive side, CSUN committed zero errors over the three games, which spanned 35 innings.
Sunday is the fourth walk-off loss the Matadors have suffered this season.
ACCORDING TO COACH DAVE SERRANO
"As bad as we feel right now, and we do feel bad, we won another series against a good opponent on the road. I really feel a lot will be talked about the ninth inning and the three runs they scored to leave us on the field. I felt the opportunities that were given up by us throughout the whole time, many times bases loaded – this team has a passion for one another, every guy is trying to do something special for their teammates, and I think sometimes that gets in our way a little bit. They just have to do their little part. That's the thing we have to go back and continue to work on and get better at. In a building process, it takes a lot of things to learn how to sweep good opponents. We had it right there for the taking, we just didn't do enough to sweep a good team. Losses are always hard for me and they're hard on the guys, especially when they invest so much into this but we've got to learn from it, build off it and not let this trend in the opposite way. Again, disappointed in today's game with the way it ended up, but we also got to look at the positives and we won a series on the road that hopefully bodes well down the line."
UP NEXT
CSUN opens a three-game series on Friday at Matador Field against UC Santa Barbara at 3 p.m. Ghizal Hasan will be on the call at GoMatadors.com/Radio.
Â
#UniteTheValley
Â
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