Friday, March 10
Stockton, Calif.
6:45 p.m.
California State University at Northridge
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Pacific
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Cal State Northridge
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Pacific Baseball
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Photo by: Dianne Wentz
Matadors Fall at Pacific to Open Series
3/10/2023 9:26:00 PM | Baseball
STOCKTON, Calif.---Pacific capitalized on two late CSUN (7-3) errors to take the series opener, 4-2, on Friday evening at Klein Family Field. Lucas Braun tossed six quality innings, allowing one run to go with seven strikeouts. Jakob Simons had two of the Matadors' five hits on the night.
The Tigers opened up the scoring in the bottom of the second inning when a pair of one-out hits led to Andrew Guida driving in a run on a groundout.
Braun would find his stride on the mound after surrendering the run, eventually retiring 10 of 11 Tiger batters during one stretch. Pacific did threaten in the fifth inning after a collecting pair of two-out singles, but Braun rebounded to sit down Rylan Evans for the third out.
Meanwhile, CSUN would strand four base runners through the first three frames until breaking through in the top of the fifth. A one-out hit from Luc Stuka followed by a double from Kevin Fitzer put both runners in scoring position. After Ben Griffin walked, Mason Le drew a walk as well on a full count to force in the tying run. Kamau Neighbors then stepped to the plate and hit a sacrifice fly to center field to put the Matadors on top 2-1.
It seemed CSUN's two runs would hold up as Braun stranded another Tiger base runner in the bottom of the sixth before turning the ball over to the bullpen.
Hayden Cody took over on the mound in the seventh and struck out the first batter to begin the frame. However, Cody gave up a one out single to Chase Graves then committed an error on a pickoff attempt. Two batters later, Ben Nemivant came through with a two-out RBI single to even the game at 2-2.
Another CSUN error, this time in the bottom of the eighth, opened the door for Pacific to take the lead. Right-handed pitcher Xavier Martinez picked up two quick outs to start the inning before Peyton Mille reached on a fielding error at shortstop. From there, Jacob Weiss roped an RBI double to left center and Guida followed with an RBI single to put CSUN behind 4-2.
The Matadors' offense struggled over the late innings, managing just a single base runner over the last four frames. Simons collected the Matadors' lone hit over that span, a two-out double in the seventh, but he would be stranded in scoring position when Andrew Sojka flew out to deep right field.
GAME NOTES
Friday's game was a late schedule change for the teams as the Matadors and Tigers had initially planned to play a doubleheader on Saturday and a single game on Sunday in an effort to avoid potential rain outs this weekend.
Jakob Simons and Graysen Tarlow have reached base safely in all 10 CSUN games this season. Simons, who doubled twice, posted his fifth multiple-hit game of the year.
ACCORDING TO COACH EDDIE CORNEJO
"I thought we let the travel be an excuse, but we just didn't compete enough and earned the outcome we got. It's unfortunate that we couldn't take advantage of Lucas' start. He pounded the zone and competed."
UP NEXT
CSUN is tentatively scheduled to play a doubleheader with Pacific on Saturday. Game one is set for an 11 a.m. first pitch with game two scheduled to start approximately 45 minutes after the conclusion of the opener.
#GoMatadors
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The Tigers opened up the scoring in the bottom of the second inning when a pair of one-out hits led to Andrew Guida driving in a run on a groundout.
Braun would find his stride on the mound after surrendering the run, eventually retiring 10 of 11 Tiger batters during one stretch. Pacific did threaten in the fifth inning after a collecting pair of two-out singles, but Braun rebounded to sit down Rylan Evans for the third out.
Meanwhile, CSUN would strand four base runners through the first three frames until breaking through in the top of the fifth. A one-out hit from Luc Stuka followed by a double from Kevin Fitzer put both runners in scoring position. After Ben Griffin walked, Mason Le drew a walk as well on a full count to force in the tying run. Kamau Neighbors then stepped to the plate and hit a sacrifice fly to center field to put the Matadors on top 2-1.
It seemed CSUN's two runs would hold up as Braun stranded another Tiger base runner in the bottom of the sixth before turning the ball over to the bullpen.
Hayden Cody took over on the mound in the seventh and struck out the first batter to begin the frame. However, Cody gave up a one out single to Chase Graves then committed an error on a pickoff attempt. Two batters later, Ben Nemivant came through with a two-out RBI single to even the game at 2-2.
Another CSUN error, this time in the bottom of the eighth, opened the door for Pacific to take the lead. Right-handed pitcher Xavier Martinez picked up two quick outs to start the inning before Peyton Mille reached on a fielding error at shortstop. From there, Jacob Weiss roped an RBI double to left center and Guida followed with an RBI single to put CSUN behind 4-2.
The Matadors' offense struggled over the late innings, managing just a single base runner over the last four frames. Simons collected the Matadors' lone hit over that span, a two-out double in the seventh, but he would be stranded in scoring position when Andrew Sojka flew out to deep right field.
GAME NOTES
Friday's game was a late schedule change for the teams as the Matadors and Tigers had initially planned to play a doubleheader on Saturday and a single game on Sunday in an effort to avoid potential rain outs this weekend.
Jakob Simons and Graysen Tarlow have reached base safely in all 10 CSUN games this season. Simons, who doubled twice, posted his fifth multiple-hit game of the year.
ACCORDING TO COACH EDDIE CORNEJO
"I thought we let the travel be an excuse, but we just didn't compete enough and earned the outcome we got. It's unfortunate that we couldn't take advantage of Lucas' start. He pounded the zone and competed."
UP NEXT
CSUN is tentatively scheduled to play a doubleheader with Pacific on Saturday. Game one is set for an 11 a.m. first pitch with game two scheduled to start approximately 45 minutes after the conclusion of the opener.
#GoMatadors
Â
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Tyler Stout (2-0)
L: Martinez, Xavier (1-1)
Batting:
2B: Simons, Jakob 2 ; Fitzer, Kevin 1
RBI: Le, Mason 1 ; Neighbors, Kamau 1
SF: Neighbors, Kamau 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Stuka, Luc 1 ; Fitzer, Kevin 1
CS: Dean, Emanuel 1
HBP: Tarlow, Graysen 1
Batting:
2B: Rylan Evans 1 ; Jacob Weiss 2
RBI: Ben Nemivant 1 ; Jacob Weiss 1 ; Andrew Guidara 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Peyton Miller 2 ; Jacob Weiss 1 ; Chase Graves 1
PO: Ben Nemivant 1
Game Leaders
AB
3
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
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