Sunday, April 16
Long Beach, Calif.
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California State University at Northridge
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Long Beach State
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Photo by: Dianne Wentz
Matadors Drop Series Finale at Long Beach State
4/16/2023 4:50:00 PM | Baseball
LONG BEACH, Calif.---CSUN Baseball (21-9, 8-4 Big West) dropped the series finale at Long Beach State (22-12, 9-6 Big West) 6-4 on Sunday at Bohl Diamond at Blair Field. Jakob Simons and Mason Le each finished 2-for-4 at the plate while Kevin Fitzer drove in two runs on the day. Matador pitching issued eight walks on the day and hit three batters but managed to strand a total of 16 base runners in the game.
The Dirtbags would threaten at the plate throughout the afternoon against Matador pitching. Ryan Wentz worked his way into a bases loaded, one-out jam in the first inning after walking a pair and giving up a hit. However, Wentz fanned Connor Burns and retired Kyle Ashworth.
Long Beach State though broke through in the bottom of the second inning, taking advantage of three more walks. Alex Champagne drove in the game's first run on a single before Jonathon Long drove in two more runs for a 3-0 Dirtbag lead.
On the flip side, the Matador bats were stymied by quality starting pitching from Kellan Montgomery. The right hander retired the first six batters of the game while he would work out of trouble in the third. CSUN picked up hits from Emanuel Dean and Le to start the third inning but Montgomery retired the next three batters in a row.
Wentz stranded two more Dirtbags in the third, however, Long Beach State capitalized on two hit batters and a walk to scratch across a run in the fourth to take a 4-0 lead.
CSUN would get one run back in the top of the fifth against Montgomery. Le kept the inning alive with a two-out double before eventually scoring when Joey Kramer reached on a throwing error. Montgomery retired Shunsuke Sakaino to strand Kramer.
Jon Mocherman gave the Matadors a lift out of the bullpen with two-plus innings of shutout relief. The southpaw left the bases loaded in the fourth inning while he also stranded a base runner in scoring position in the fifth.
The Dirtbags got back into the scoring column in the bottom of the seventh. After a pair of hits to start the frame, a CSUN wild pitch followed by an eventual sacrifice fly would put the Matadors behind 6-1 heading to the eighth.
CSUN though did not go away quietly. Sakaino and Graysen Tarlow drew walks to start the inning before Simons delivered with an RBI single. Fitzer followed with a two-run single that trimmed the Dirtbag lead to 6-4. LBSU's Nathen Morris prevented any further damage by inducing a 6-4-3 double play to end the frame.
Morris would close the game with a clean top of the ninth inning to secure a Dirtbag victory.
GAME NOTES
Jon Mocherman worked the most out of the bullpen, tossing 2.1 innings with two hits and no runs allowed. Xavier Martinez worked a shutout inning while Joshua Romero retired two batters in the bottom of the eighth.
Shunsuke Sakaino drew a walk in the eighth inning to extend his on-base streak to 17 games.
Despite Sunday's result, CSUN came away with its first series win at Long Beach State since 2001 after taking the first two games of this weekend's series.
ACCORDING TO COACH EDDIE CORNEJO
"We were one big hit away from tying the ball game, but we put ourselves in that position. We couldn't throw strikes on the mound enough. We couldn't make enough plays on defense and we couldn't have enough quality at bats to overcome all of the free bases."
UP NEXT
The Matadors stay on the road for a midweek matchup with USC on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.
#GoMatadors
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The Dirtbags would threaten at the plate throughout the afternoon against Matador pitching. Ryan Wentz worked his way into a bases loaded, one-out jam in the first inning after walking a pair and giving up a hit. However, Wentz fanned Connor Burns and retired Kyle Ashworth.
Long Beach State though broke through in the bottom of the second inning, taking advantage of three more walks. Alex Champagne drove in the game's first run on a single before Jonathon Long drove in two more runs for a 3-0 Dirtbag lead.
On the flip side, the Matador bats were stymied by quality starting pitching from Kellan Montgomery. The right hander retired the first six batters of the game while he would work out of trouble in the third. CSUN picked up hits from Emanuel Dean and Le to start the third inning but Montgomery retired the next three batters in a row.
Wentz stranded two more Dirtbags in the third, however, Long Beach State capitalized on two hit batters and a walk to scratch across a run in the fourth to take a 4-0 lead.
CSUN would get one run back in the top of the fifth against Montgomery. Le kept the inning alive with a two-out double before eventually scoring when Joey Kramer reached on a throwing error. Montgomery retired Shunsuke Sakaino to strand Kramer.
Jon Mocherman gave the Matadors a lift out of the bullpen with two-plus innings of shutout relief. The southpaw left the bases loaded in the fourth inning while he also stranded a base runner in scoring position in the fifth.
The Dirtbags got back into the scoring column in the bottom of the seventh. After a pair of hits to start the frame, a CSUN wild pitch followed by an eventual sacrifice fly would put the Matadors behind 6-1 heading to the eighth.
CSUN though did not go away quietly. Sakaino and Graysen Tarlow drew walks to start the inning before Simons delivered with an RBI single. Fitzer followed with a two-run single that trimmed the Dirtbag lead to 6-4. LBSU's Nathen Morris prevented any further damage by inducing a 6-4-3 double play to end the frame.
Morris would close the game with a clean top of the ninth inning to secure a Dirtbag victory.
GAME NOTES
Jon Mocherman worked the most out of the bullpen, tossing 2.1 innings with two hits and no runs allowed. Xavier Martinez worked a shutout inning while Joshua Romero retired two batters in the bottom of the eighth.
Shunsuke Sakaino drew a walk in the eighth inning to extend his on-base streak to 17 games.
Despite Sunday's result, CSUN came away with its first series win at Long Beach State since 2001 after taking the first two games of this weekend's series.
ACCORDING TO COACH EDDIE CORNEJO
"We were one big hit away from tying the ball game, but we put ourselves in that position. We couldn't throw strikes on the mound enough. We couldn't make enough plays on defense and we couldn't have enough quality at bats to overcome all of the free bases."
UP NEXT
The Matadors stay on the road for a midweek matchup with USC on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.
#GoMatadors
Â
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Montgomery, Kellan (2-1)
L: Wentz, Ryan (2-1)
Batting:
2B: Simons, Jakob 1 ; Le, Mason 1
RBI: Simons, Jakob 1 ; Fitzer, Kevin 2
SH: Kramer, Joey 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Sakaino, Shunsuke 1 ; Tarlow, Graysen 1 ; Simons, Jakob 1 ; Le, Mason 1
Batting:
RBI: Champagne, Alex 1 ; Long, Jonathon 3 ; Borgogno, Ty 1
SH: Saldivar, Eddie 1 ; Marinconz, Nick 1
SF: Long, Jonathon 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Saldivar, Eddie 2 ; Champagne, Alex 2 ; Peppi, Rocco 1 ; Borgogno, Ty 1
SB: Champagne, Alex 1 ; Peppi, Rocco 1
HBP: Peppi, Rocco 1 ; Borgogno, Ty 2
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
2
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
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