California State University at Northridge
16-6, 5-3
UC Riverside
6-16, 0-5
Matadors Homer Five Times in 20-4 Win Over UC Riverside
4/1/2023 5:40:00 PM | Baseball
The Matadors once again jumped on the Highlanders in the opening frame for a second-straight day. Simons got the Matadors' offense started with a leadoff home run to left field. CSUN later added to its lead with three-straight two-out singles as Nathan Barraza drove in Fitzer.
Thomas Bainton struck out four batters through the first two innings before UCR got into the run column on a two-out RBI single from Dominic Martinez. Camarillo though answered for the Matadors in the home half of the third with a two-out RBI single to extend the lead to 3-1.
Over the middle innings, CSUN would break the game open with three consecutive multiple-run frames.
A total of 11 Matadors batted in the bottom of the fourth in a six-run outburst. Simons belted his second home of the afternoon, a two-run shot, that just cleared the wall in left field. After the next two batters reached, Fitzer roped a two-run single to left-center field. Camarillo added to the lead with an RBi triple before scoring on a wild pitch, which extended the CSUN lead to 9-1.
Martinez hit a two-run home run for UCR in the top of the fifth to cut the lead to six, but that would be the closest the Highlanders got for the remainder of the game. In the bottom of the fifth, the Matadors scored four more times, highlighted by a three-run triple from Fitzer. Camarillo produced an RBI double as well to push the lead to 13-3.
An inning later, Kramer smacked a solo home run to left while Brandon Leon belted his first career home run off the right-field scoreboard.
CSUN's final scoring barrage came in the bottom of the eighth in a five-run inning. Sojka collected a two-run double in the frame and Leon added to his RBI total with a run-scoring triple. After Shunsuke Sakaino drove in one more run on a grounder, Bren Wilkinson blasted his first caree home run for CSUN's 20th run of the day.
GAME NOTES
Twelve different Matadors collected hits in the game while 10 scored a run and nine drove in at least one run.
Jakob Simons is the first Matador to homer twice in a game since Denzel Clarke had two home runs on May 3, 2019, against UC Santa Barbara. Simons also posted his ninth multiple-hit game and seventh multiple-RBI game on Saturday. Graysen Tarlow extended his on-base streak to 21 games while Ali Camarillo stretched his hit streak to 10 games.
Jon Mocherman was credited with the save after working four innings, allowing a run to go with three strikeouts. Matador pitching combined to strike out 11 batters.
ACCORDING TO COACH EDDIE CORNEJO
"I think we're playing a little looser and freer. I go back to our last weekend at Santa Barbara. I thought we were a little bit tight, out of character and maybe pressing a little too much. We were able to still score runs Saturday and Sunday [in that series], but we were shut down Friday. I think we're getting pitches to hit and we're ready for them."
UP NEXT
CSUN wraps up its weekend series with UC Riverside on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. Ghizal Hasan has the call on both ESPN+ and GoMatadors.com/Radio.
#GoMatadors
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Bainton, Thomas (3-1)
L: Eric Marrujo (2-3)
S: Mocherman, Jon (1)
Batting:
2B: Jacob Shanks 1
HR: Dominic Martinez 1 ; Alfredo Capacete 1
RBI: Dominic Martinez 2 ; Alfredo Capacete 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Jacob Shanks 1 ; Anthony Mata 1 ; Dominic Martinez 1 ; Alfredo Capacete 1
HBP: Jacob Shanks 1 ; Mason Grace 1
Batting:
2B: Tarlow, Graysen 1 ; Camarillo, Ali 1 ; Sojka, Andrew 1
3B: Leon, Brandon 1 ; Fitzer, Kevin 1 ; Camarillo, Ali 1
HR: Simons, Jakob 2 ; Leon, Brandon 1 ; Wilkinson, Bren 1 ; Kramer, Joey 1
RBI: Simons, Jakob 3 ; Leon, Brandon 2 ; Sakaino, Shunsuke 1 ; Wilkinson, Bren 1 ; Fitzer, Kevin 5 ; Camarillo, Ali 3 ; Barraza, Nathan 1 ; Kramer, Joey 1 ; Sojka, Andrew 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Simons, Jakob 3 ; Leon, Brandon 2 ; Sakaino, Shunsuke 2 ; Tarlow, Graysen 2 ; Wilkinson, Bren 1 ; Fitzer, Kevin 3 ; Camarillo, Ali 1 ; Mercurio, Camron 1 ; Kramer, Joey 2 ; Sojka, Andrew 3
SB: Tarlow, Graysen 1
HBP: Sojka, Andrew 1
PO: Sakaino, Shunsuke 1
