Friday, April 28
Northridge, Calif.
3:00 p.m.
California State University at Northridge
25-11, 11-5
11
vs
4
Cal State Fullerton
24-13, 15-4
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4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Cal State Fullerton
0
0
0
1
0
0
1
2
0
4
6
1
CSUN
1
6
0
0
0
0
2
2
X
11
12
0
Photo by: Diego Gutierrez
Offense Powers Matadors to Series Opening Win Over Fullerton
4/28/2023 6:06:00 PM | Baseball
NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Baseball (25-11, 11-5 Big West) took game one of its weekend series with Cal State Fullerton (24-13, 15-4 Big West) 11-4 on Friday at Matador Field. The Matadors scored seven times over the first two innings including posting a six-run second inning. Graysen Tarlow tied a career-high in RBI with six to go with a grand slam while Andrew Sojka went 3-for-4 with three runs scored. Lucas Braun tossed seven quality innings and struck out six, allowing two runs.
The Matadors jumped on the Titans in the opening inning. Sojka led off the first with a double before moving to third base on a Shunsuke Sakaino sacrifice bunt. Tarlow drove in Sojka soon after with a sacrifice fly for a 1-0 lead.
CSUN went back on the attack in the bottom of the second. Nathan Barraza and Joey Kramer hit back-to-back one-out doubles to produce CSUN's second run. After Mason Le walked, Sojka added to the lead with a two-out RBI single. The inning continued when Tyler Stultz hit Sakaino with a pitch to load the bases for Tarlow. Moments later, Tarlow hit a grand slam that cleared the left-field wall to extend the lead to 7-0.
Meanwhile, Braun faced the minimum through the first three innings, racking up four strikeouts over that span. The Titans were able to push a run across in the fourth after a leadoff double led to a Moises Guzman sacrifice fly. However, Braun blanked the Titans over the fifth and sixth as he struck out two more Titans.
Cal State Fullerton got another run back in the seventh courtesy of a solo home run from Cole Urman. Two more hitters would reach in the inning, but Braun induced a 6-4-3 double play to keep the lead at 7-2.
The Matadors were held off the scoreboard for four consecutive innings before breaking through again in the bottom of the seventh on a two-run homer from Ali Camarillo.
The lead was trimmed to 9-4 after the Titans scored twice in the top of the eighth, however, CSUN responded with a two-spot in the home half of the frame. Tarlow drove in his sixth run of the day with an RBI single to score Sojka while Kevin Fitzer picked up an RBI single up the middle, plating Sakaino.
Xavier Martinez worked the final two innings, retiring all six batters he faced and striking out two.
GAME NOTES
All nine Matador starters reached base safely in the game with eight producing at least one hit and seven scoring at least one run. In addition to Graysen Tarlow and Andrew Sojka, Nathan Barraza had a multiple-hit game and went 2-for-4. Kevin Fitzer extended his on-base streak to 11 while Ali Camarillo and Barraza stretched their hit streaks to six.
Tarlow's six RBI matched his previous career-high he set on Feb. 17 against Stony Brook earlier this season. His grand slam was his second of the season and the Matadors' fifth overall in 2023.
ACCORDING TO COACH EDDIE CORNEJO
"We got good pitches to hit early and we were passing the baton. Sojka really ignited us, he's been doing fairly well as of late. He got on base with a double [in the first]. We were able to sacrifice him over and get him in. Kevin Fitzer then tries to drag bunt and almost narrowly beats it, so right there that gave me the sense that we came ready to play. We were fundamental.
I liked how we responded [after scoring early]. I think that was the right way to respond, especially when they started scoring runs. They started beating us in the middle innings, and that was a point of emphasis. We score those runs early and then we can't get on our heels. I thought our at bats were good. We did throw some away, we just didn't string them together. I feel like the group is growing as whole, but we'll see, tomorrow can be different and Sunday can be different."
UP NEXT
The Matadors continue their weekend series with Cal State Fullerton on Saturday at 2 p.m. Ghizal Hasan and Steve Granado will be on the call on ESPN+ and GoMatadors.com/Radio.
#GoMatadors
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The Matadors jumped on the Titans in the opening inning. Sojka led off the first with a double before moving to third base on a Shunsuke Sakaino sacrifice bunt. Tarlow drove in Sojka soon after with a sacrifice fly for a 1-0 lead.
CSUN went back on the attack in the bottom of the second. Nathan Barraza and Joey Kramer hit back-to-back one-out doubles to produce CSUN's second run. After Mason Le walked, Sojka added to the lead with a two-out RBI single. The inning continued when Tyler Stultz hit Sakaino with a pitch to load the bases for Tarlow. Moments later, Tarlow hit a grand slam that cleared the left-field wall to extend the lead to 7-0.
Meanwhile, Braun faced the minimum through the first three innings, racking up four strikeouts over that span. The Titans were able to push a run across in the fourth after a leadoff double led to a Moises Guzman sacrifice fly. However, Braun blanked the Titans over the fifth and sixth as he struck out two more Titans.
Cal State Fullerton got another run back in the seventh courtesy of a solo home run from Cole Urman. Two more hitters would reach in the inning, but Braun induced a 6-4-3 double play to keep the lead at 7-2.
The Matadors were held off the scoreboard for four consecutive innings before breaking through again in the bottom of the seventh on a two-run homer from Ali Camarillo.
The lead was trimmed to 9-4 after the Titans scored twice in the top of the eighth, however, CSUN responded with a two-spot in the home half of the frame. Tarlow drove in his sixth run of the day with an RBI single to score Sojka while Kevin Fitzer picked up an RBI single up the middle, plating Sakaino.
Xavier Martinez worked the final two innings, retiring all six batters he faced and striking out two.
GAME NOTES
All nine Matador starters reached base safely in the game with eight producing at least one hit and seven scoring at least one run. In addition to Graysen Tarlow and Andrew Sojka, Nathan Barraza had a multiple-hit game and went 2-for-4. Kevin Fitzer extended his on-base streak to 11 while Ali Camarillo and Barraza stretched their hit streaks to six.
Tarlow's six RBI matched his previous career-high he set on Feb. 17 against Stony Brook earlier this season. His grand slam was his second of the season and the Matadors' fifth overall in 2023.
ACCORDING TO COACH EDDIE CORNEJO
"We got good pitches to hit early and we were passing the baton. Sojka really ignited us, he's been doing fairly well as of late. He got on base with a double [in the first]. We were able to sacrifice him over and get him in. Kevin Fitzer then tries to drag bunt and almost narrowly beats it, so right there that gave me the sense that we came ready to play. We were fundamental.
I liked how we responded [after scoring early]. I think that was the right way to respond, especially when they started scoring runs. They started beating us in the middle innings, and that was a point of emphasis. We score those runs early and then we can't get on our heels. I thought our at bats were good. We did throw some away, we just didn't string them together. I feel like the group is growing as whole, but we'll see, tomorrow can be different and Sunday can be different."
UP NEXT
The Matadors continue their weekend series with Cal State Fullerton on Saturday at 2 p.m. Ghizal Hasan and Steve Granado will be on the call on ESPN+ and GoMatadors.com/Radio.
#GoMatadors
Â
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Braun, Lucas (4-4)
L: Stultz,Tyler (5-3)
Batting:
2B: Guzman,Moises 1 ; Lew,Zach 1
HR: Urman,Cole 1
RBI: Lew,Zach 2 ; Connor,Caden 1 ; Urman,Cole 1
SF: Lew,Zach 1 ; Connor,Caden 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Guzman,Moises 2 ; White,Carter 1 ; Urman,Cole 1
Batting:
2B: Sojka, Andrew 1 ; Barraza, Nathan 1 ; Kramer, Joey 1
HR: Tarlow, Graysen 1 ; Camarillo, Ali 1
RBI: Sojka, Andrew 1 ; Tarlow, Graysen 6 ; Fitzer, Kevin 1 ; Camarillo, Ali 2 ; Kramer, Joey 1
SH: Sakaino, Shunsuke 1
SF: Tarlow, Graysen 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Sojka, Andrew 3 ; Sakaino, Shunsuke 2 ; Tarlow, Graysen 2 ; Camarillo, Ali 1 ; Barraza, Nathan 1 ; Kramer, Joey 1 ; Le, Mason 1
HBP: Sakaino, Shunsuke 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
3
H
3
RBI
1
AB
3
R
2
H
2
RBI
6
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
2
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
UTIL
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