Tuesday, April 18
Los Angeles, Calif.
6:30 p.m.
California State University at Northridge
21-10
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USC
22-13-1
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CSUN
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USC
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Photo by: Dianne Wentz
Matadors Fall to USC 8-5 in Midweek Action
4/18/2023 9:30:00 PM | Baseball
LOS ANGELES, Calif.---CSUN Baseball (21-10) fell to USC (22-13-1) 8-5 on Tuesday evening at Dedeaux Field. Andrew Sojka finished 2-for-3 with a solo home run while Ali Camarillo had a 2-for-4 night at the plate with three runs batted in. The Matadors led by two runs early in the game but could not hold off the Trojans who belted three home runs.
CSUN jumped on USC in the opening inning, taking advantage of an error to start the frame. Camarillo would put the Matadors in front with a two-out two-run triple that just bounced fair in the right-field corner.
USC got a run back in the home half of the first on a two-out hit of its own when Cole Gabrielson collected an RBI single. Jakob Simons would prevent further damage in the inning when he made a diving catch in center field off a Nick Lopez flyball.
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Both teams leaned on the long ball in the second inning. In the top half, Andrew Sojka belted a solo home run off the right-field scoreboard. However, the Trojans squared the game in the bottom of the second on a two-run blast from Connor Aoki.
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The Trojans benefited from a wild pitch thrown by Kenji Pallares with two outs in the bottom of the third to take a 4-3 lead.
CSUN appeared it would answer right back in the top of the fourth when Graysen Tarlow stood at the plate with a runner in scoring position. Tarlow hit a drive in the right-center field gap but Gabrielson made a diving catch to keep the Trojans' lead intact.
After USC extended to a 5-3 lead on a fourth-inning homer from Connor Clift, CSUN pulled to within a run on a sacrifice fly from Nathan Barraza in the top of the sixth. The Matadors attempted a double steal later in the inning with runners at the corners, but Sojka was tagged out in-between third base and home plate.
The Trojan bats continued to make noise over the sixth and seventh innings. Aoki added to his RBI total with a two-out single to plate another run in the bottom of the sixth. An inning later, Bryce Martin-Grudzielanek belted a two-run homer to stretch the lead to 8-4.
Hayden Cody gave the Matador bullpen a lift over the final two frames, retiring all six batters he faced while racking up two strikeouts.
The Matadors continued to battle in the late innings as they pushed across a run in the top of the eighth. Kevin Fitzer doubled to start the inning and he later scored on an RBI single from Camarillo.
A comeback though was not in the cards. USC turned a 6-4-3 double play to slow the Matador uprising in the eighth while CSUN only produced a walk in a scoreless top of the ninth.
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GAME NOTES
Andrew Sojka's home run on Tuesday was his first this season. Shunsuke Sakaino finished 1-for-5 and extended his on-base streak to 18 games while Jakob Simons, who walked once, stretched his on-base streak to 11 games.
Isaac Ontiveros earned the start on Tuesday and worked two innings, allowing three runs.
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ACCORDING TO COACH EDDIE CORNEJO
"Offensively, I thought we came out aggressive. We stuck to our game plan. Towards the tail end of the game, I thought we started to get away from our game plan. We weren't able to string some swings together. We would get a couple guys on base then hit into a double play ot fly out lazily, so we couldn't put it together totally.
We just didn't do a good job on the mound. We elevated too many pitches. Today was a day where we were going to staff it and pass the baton, but we couldn't put up enough zeroes.Â
Like I told the group, we have about 20-plus games left in the regular season, if you're not careful you'll blink and it will be over. We need to continue to get better everyday and pour everything we have into every game. I don't think it was there today."
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UP NEXT
CSUN returns home for a Big West series with Cal Poly starting Friday at 3 p.m. Ghizal Hasan has the call on ESPN+ and GoMatadors.com/Radio.
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#GoMatadors
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CSUN jumped on USC in the opening inning, taking advantage of an error to start the frame. Camarillo would put the Matadors in front with a two-out two-run triple that just bounced fair in the right-field corner.
USC got a run back in the home half of the first on a two-out hit of its own when Cole Gabrielson collected an RBI single. Jakob Simons would prevent further damage in the inning when he made a diving catch in center field off a Nick Lopez flyball.
Â
Both teams leaned on the long ball in the second inning. In the top half, Andrew Sojka belted a solo home run off the right-field scoreboard. However, the Trojans squared the game in the bottom of the second on a two-run blast from Connor Aoki.
Â
The Trojans benefited from a wild pitch thrown by Kenji Pallares with two outs in the bottom of the third to take a 4-3 lead.
CSUN appeared it would answer right back in the top of the fourth when Graysen Tarlow stood at the plate with a runner in scoring position. Tarlow hit a drive in the right-center field gap but Gabrielson made a diving catch to keep the Trojans' lead intact.
After USC extended to a 5-3 lead on a fourth-inning homer from Connor Clift, CSUN pulled to within a run on a sacrifice fly from Nathan Barraza in the top of the sixth. The Matadors attempted a double steal later in the inning with runners at the corners, but Sojka was tagged out in-between third base and home plate.
The Trojan bats continued to make noise over the sixth and seventh innings. Aoki added to his RBI total with a two-out single to plate another run in the bottom of the sixth. An inning later, Bryce Martin-Grudzielanek belted a two-run homer to stretch the lead to 8-4.
Hayden Cody gave the Matador bullpen a lift over the final two frames, retiring all six batters he faced while racking up two strikeouts.
The Matadors continued to battle in the late innings as they pushed across a run in the top of the eighth. Kevin Fitzer doubled to start the inning and he later scored on an RBI single from Camarillo.
A comeback though was not in the cards. USC turned a 6-4-3 double play to slow the Matador uprising in the eighth while CSUN only produced a walk in a scoreless top of the ninth.
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GAME NOTES
Andrew Sojka's home run on Tuesday was his first this season. Shunsuke Sakaino finished 1-for-5 and extended his on-base streak to 18 games while Jakob Simons, who walked once, stretched his on-base streak to 11 games.
Isaac Ontiveros earned the start on Tuesday and worked two innings, allowing three runs.
Â
ACCORDING TO COACH EDDIE CORNEJO
"Offensively, I thought we came out aggressive. We stuck to our game plan. Towards the tail end of the game, I thought we started to get away from our game plan. We weren't able to string some swings together. We would get a couple guys on base then hit into a double play ot fly out lazily, so we couldn't put it together totally.
We just didn't do a good job on the mound. We elevated too many pitches. Today was a day where we were going to staff it and pass the baton, but we couldn't put up enough zeroes.Â
Like I told the group, we have about 20-plus games left in the regular season, if you're not careful you'll blink and it will be over. We need to continue to get better everyday and pour everything we have into every game. I don't think it was there today."
Â
UP NEXT
CSUN returns home for a Big West series with Cal Poly starting Friday at 3 p.m. Ghizal Hasan has the call on ESPN+ and GoMatadors.com/Radio.
Â
#GoMatadors
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Spach, Toby (2-1)
L: Pallares, Kenji (4-3)
S: Wisch, Kyle (4)
Batting:
2B: Fitzer, Kevin 1
3B: Camarillo, Ali 1
HR: Sojka, Andrew 1
RBI: Camarillo, Ali 3 ; Sojka, Andrew 1 ; Barraza, Nathan 1
SF: Barraza, Nathan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Tarlow, Graysen 1 ; Simons, Jakob 1 ; Fitzer, Kevin 1 ; Le, Mason 1 ; Sojka, Andrew 1
SB: Sojka, Andrew 1
CS: Sojka, Andrew 1
HBP: Sojka, Andrew 1
Batting:
2B: Olmstead, Johnny 1
HR: Grudzielanek, Bryce 1 ; Clift, Connor 1 ; Aoki, Connor 1
RBI: Grudzielanek, Bryce 2 ; Gabrielson, Cole 1 ; Clift, Connor 1 ; Aoki, Connor 3
Base Running:
RUNS: Overn, Austin 1 ; Grudzielanek, Bryce 2 ; Olmstead, Johnny 1 ; Gabrielson, Cole 1 ; Clift, Connor 1 ; Wells, Carson 1 ; Aoki, Connor 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
3
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
5
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
UTIL
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RHP
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LHP
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RHP
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