Saturday, April 29
Northridge, Calif.
2:00 p.m.
California State University at Northridge
25-12, 11-6
1
vs
15
Cal State Fullerton
25-13, 16-4
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Cal State Fullerton
0
2
0
4
0
0
2
7
0
15
15
1
CSUN
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
1
6
3
Photo by: Dianne Wentz
Matadors Drop Game Two to Cal State Fullerton
4/29/2023 5:53:00 PM | Baseball
NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Baseball (25-12, 11-6 Big West) dropped a 15-1 decision to Cal State Fullerton (25-13, 16-4 Big West) on Saturday afternoon at Matador Field. The Titans scored multiple runs in four different innings, capped by a seven-run eighth to even the weekend series. Brandon Leon had two of the Matadors' five hits on the day.
CSUN's Jon Mocherman earned the Saturday spot start against the first-place Titans and would get off to a solid start with a shutout first. However, Cal State Fullerton took advantage of a Mocherman throwing error in the second inning to plate two runs. Mocherman though helped his own cause when a pitch to the plate skipped away from catcher Graysen Tarlow with a runner at third base. The left hander was able to field home plate and tag out Cole Urman.
Mocherman had his best inning in the third when he retired the Titans in order. Fullerton though responded with a big fourth inning, highlighted by two home runs. Nate Nankil would belt a one-out solo home run to push the lead to three. Two of the next three Titans reached base before Brendan Bobo hammered a three-run homer to center for a 6-0 advantage.
While the Titans surged at the plate, the Matadors could not get much going offensively against Fullerton starter Fynn Chester. CSUN had the leadoff batter aboard in each of the first two innings but was not able to cash in on opportunities. In the second, Kevin Fitzer singled to start off and Shunsuke Sakaino was hit by a pitch with one out before Chester retired the next two batters in order.
The Matadors picked up back-to-back one-out singles from Leon and Joey Kramer but Chester again got out of trouble when he sat down Andrew Sojka and Tarlow.
Fullerton broke open the game over the final three innings. In the seventh, Caden Connor and Zach Lew picked up consecutive RBI hits to stretch the lead to 8-0. A total of 12 batters would come to the plate in a big seven-run top of the eighth as the Matadors issued four walks in the frame and committed an error while the Titans had five hits.
CSUN's lone run of the day came in the the bottom of the seventh when Tarlow hit a two-out RBI single to plate Leon. The Matadors eventually loaded the bases in the inning but Fitzer went down on strikes.
GAME NOTES
Joey Kramer made his first career pitching appearance in the top of the eighth. Kramer would work the final 1.2 innings, allowing no runs while scattering four hits.
Kevin Fitzer extended his on-base streak to 12 games while Ali Camarillo, who went 1-for-3, stretched his hit streak to seven games.
ACCORDING TO COACH EDDIE CORNEJO
"There were too many things that we didn't compete well at and they were determined to be better than us at fundamental baseball. I'm not surprised with the outcome based on those things. They are a good team. We have to be consistently fundamental, throw strikes, catch the ball and put the ball in play. We didn't do either of those things effectively today.
It's our worse loss of the season based off the difference in runs scored. A part of that is we put ourselves in a position to not be competitive because we're not totally healthy on the mound. I have to be able to save our pitching for Sunday to possibly win the series. We tried to get through as much as we could, unfortunately, our guys couldn't do their job and things got away from them. It feels a lot worse based off those last three innings."
UP NEXT
CSUN and Cal State Fullerton play the rubber match of their series on Sunday at 1 p.m. Ghizal Hasan has the call on ESPN+ and GoMatadors.com/Radio.
#GoMatadors
Â
CSUN's Jon Mocherman earned the Saturday spot start against the first-place Titans and would get off to a solid start with a shutout first. However, Cal State Fullerton took advantage of a Mocherman throwing error in the second inning to plate two runs. Mocherman though helped his own cause when a pitch to the plate skipped away from catcher Graysen Tarlow with a runner at third base. The left hander was able to field home plate and tag out Cole Urman.
Mocherman had his best inning in the third when he retired the Titans in order. Fullerton though responded with a big fourth inning, highlighted by two home runs. Nate Nankil would belt a one-out solo home run to push the lead to three. Two of the next three Titans reached base before Brendan Bobo hammered a three-run homer to center for a 6-0 advantage.
While the Titans surged at the plate, the Matadors could not get much going offensively against Fullerton starter Fynn Chester. CSUN had the leadoff batter aboard in each of the first two innings but was not able to cash in on opportunities. In the second, Kevin Fitzer singled to start off and Shunsuke Sakaino was hit by a pitch with one out before Chester retired the next two batters in order.
The Matadors picked up back-to-back one-out singles from Leon and Joey Kramer but Chester again got out of trouble when he sat down Andrew Sojka and Tarlow.
Fullerton broke open the game over the final three innings. In the seventh, Caden Connor and Zach Lew picked up consecutive RBI hits to stretch the lead to 8-0. A total of 12 batters would come to the plate in a big seven-run top of the eighth as the Matadors issued four walks in the frame and committed an error while the Titans had five hits.
CSUN's lone run of the day came in the the bottom of the seventh when Tarlow hit a two-out RBI single to plate Leon. The Matadors eventually loaded the bases in the inning but Fitzer went down on strikes.
GAME NOTES
Joey Kramer made his first career pitching appearance in the top of the eighth. Kramer would work the final 1.2 innings, allowing no runs while scattering four hits.
Kevin Fitzer extended his on-base streak to 12 games while Ali Camarillo, who went 1-for-3, stretched his hit streak to seven games.
ACCORDING TO COACH EDDIE CORNEJO
"There were too many things that we didn't compete well at and they were determined to be better than us at fundamental baseball. I'm not surprised with the outcome based on those things. They are a good team. We have to be consistently fundamental, throw strikes, catch the ball and put the ball in play. We didn't do either of those things effectively today.
It's our worse loss of the season based off the difference in runs scored. A part of that is we put ourselves in a position to not be competitive because we're not totally healthy on the mound. I have to be able to save our pitching for Sunday to possibly win the series. We tried to get through as much as we could, unfortunately, our guys couldn't do their job and things got away from them. It feels a lot worse based off those last three innings."
UP NEXT
CSUN and Cal State Fullerton play the rubber match of their series on Sunday at 1 p.m. Ghizal Hasan has the call on ESPN+ and GoMatadors.com/Radio.
#GoMatadors
Â
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Chester,Fynn (7-0)
L: Mocherman, Jon (1-1)
Batting:
2B: Connor,Caden 1 ; Haley,Jack 1
HR: Nankil,Nate 1 ; Bobo,Brendan 1
RBI: Guzman,Moises 1 ; Connor,Caden 2 ; Lew,Zach 1 ; Nankil,Nate 1 ; White,Carter 1 ; Urman,Cole 1 ; Bobo,Brendan 4 ; Haley,Jack 1
SH: Connor,Caden 1
SF: Bobo,Brendan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Guzman,Moises 2 ; Connor,Caden 1 ; Lew,Zach 1 ; Nankil,Nate 2 ; Wallace,Colby 1 ; White,Carter 1 ; Latta,Maddox 2 ; Urman,Cole 2 ; Bobo,Brendan 2 ; Haley,Jack 1
SB: Guzman,Moises 1
CS: Haley,Jack 1
HBP: White,Carter 1
Batting:
2B: Leon, Brandon 1
RBI: Tarlow, Graysen 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Leon, Brandon 1
HBP: Fitzer, Kevin 1 ; Sakaino, Shunsuke 1 ; Kramer, Joey 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
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