Friday, April 7
Macon, Ga.
8:00 a.m.
California State University at Northridge
19-7
10
at
1
Mercer
20-12
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3
4
5
6
7
R
H
E
CSUN
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0
3
2
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10
14
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Mercer
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1
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3
0
Photo by: Dianne Wentz
Matadors Split Doubleheader at Mercer
4/7/2023 1:40:00 PM | Baseball
MACON, Ga.---CSUN Baseball (19-8) split its doubleheader with Mercer (21-12) on Friday afternoon at OrthoGeorgia Park. The Matadors collected a 10-1 victory in the opener before dropping game two by a 4-2 final. Both were scheduled seven-inning games.
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GAME 1 RECAP
Thomas Bainton was nearly unhittable for most of his time on the mound on Friday. Following a pair of strikeouts in the first, Bainton went on to retire the first seven batters of the game before giving up a double to Ty Dalley in the third.
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The double in the third would be the only blemish against Bainton over the first six innings. After surrendering the hit to Dalley, Bainton proceeded to retire the next 11 batters in a row as he one-hit Mercer through six.
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Meanwhile, CSUN's offense broke through in the top of the third. After Mason Le and Graysen Tarlow were hit by pitches, Fitzer belted a three-run homer to left field.
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The Matadors leaned on the long ball again in the fourth when Jakob Simons blasted a two-run homer to left with two outs to extend the lead to 5-0.
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In the sixth, the Matadors broke the game open with a four-run frame, highlighted by a two-run double from Andrew Sojka. Simons and Fitzer also added to their RBI totals with run-scoring hits as the lead grew to 9-0.
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After Emanuel Dean made it a 10-0 game with a leadoff homer in the seventh, Bainton would march back to the mound looking for the complete game. Mercer picked up a pair of singles to start the frame and later broke up the shutout on a sacrifice fly from Carter Sanford. However, Bainton closed the game by retiring Eli Runyan to secure the complete-game victory.
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GAME 2 RECAP
The Matadors, who posted 14 hits in game one, would struggle to find the hit column in the rubber match of the series. Josh Farmer retired the first 13 batters of the game until Ali Camarillo singled with one out in the fourth. Farmer went on to induce a double play after the Camarillo hit.
Meanwhile, Mercer capitalized on four CSUN walks issued by Kenji Pallares in the bottom of the first inning to plate the game's first run. Hayden Cody entered the fray with two outs in the first inning and would strand the bases loaded in the frame.
Cody blanked the Bears in the second inning but Mercer responded with a two-run bottom of the third. Ty Dalley came away with an RBI single while Bradley Frye later hit a sacrifice fly for a 3-0 lead.
Mercer eventually stretched its lead to 4-0 on a fifth inning solo home run from Jozsef Rohrbacher off Xavier Martinez.
The Matadors were one-hit through five innings until finally breaking through in the sixth. Sojka began the rally by drawing a one-out walk. Moments later, Kamau Neighbors rifled a double down the left-field line to put CSUN on the scoreboard. A Simons single kept the rally going then Fitzer delivered a two-out RBI single to bring CSUN to within 4-2.
A comeback though was not in the cards. CSUN left two base runners stranded to end the sixth while Wesley Franklin retired the Matadors in order in the top of the seventh to secure the win for Mercer.
GAME NOTES
Kevin Fitzer finished the doubleheader with three hits, five RBI and a home run while Jakob Simons had four hits, three RBi and a homer. Graysen Tarlow reached base safely in game one of the doubleheader but did not reach in game two as his on-base streak was snapped at 24 games.
Thomas Bainton (4-1) earned his second complete game of the season while he struck out eight batters for the second-straight start.
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ACCORDING TO COACH EDDIE CORNEJO
"It's never easy to take two games of a doubleheader on the road against solid teams. Bainton was as good as we've seen him with command and competitiveness. I was proud of how we responded overall after the game one loss [on Friday].Â
We had our work cut out for us in game two and we didn't deliver. There were good moments but not enough to take a series. More than anything, I want our team to continue to learn and grow so we can play our best baseball down the stretch."
UP NEXT
CSUN returns to Big West play next weekend with a three-game road series at Long Beach State. The opener is set for Friday, April 14 at 6 p.m.
#GoMatadors
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GAME 1 RECAP
Thomas Bainton was nearly unhittable for most of his time on the mound on Friday. Following a pair of strikeouts in the first, Bainton went on to retire the first seven batters of the game before giving up a double to Ty Dalley in the third.
Â
The double in the third would be the only blemish against Bainton over the first six innings. After surrendering the hit to Dalley, Bainton proceeded to retire the next 11 batters in a row as he one-hit Mercer through six.
Â
Meanwhile, CSUN's offense broke through in the top of the third. After Mason Le and Graysen Tarlow were hit by pitches, Fitzer belted a three-run homer to left field.
Â
The Matadors leaned on the long ball again in the fourth when Jakob Simons blasted a two-run homer to left with two outs to extend the lead to 5-0.
Â
In the sixth, the Matadors broke the game open with a four-run frame, highlighted by a two-run double from Andrew Sojka. Simons and Fitzer also added to their RBI totals with run-scoring hits as the lead grew to 9-0.
Â
After Emanuel Dean made it a 10-0 game with a leadoff homer in the seventh, Bainton would march back to the mound looking for the complete game. Mercer picked up a pair of singles to start the frame and later broke up the shutout on a sacrifice fly from Carter Sanford. However, Bainton closed the game by retiring Eli Runyan to secure the complete-game victory.
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GAME 2 RECAP
The Matadors, who posted 14 hits in game one, would struggle to find the hit column in the rubber match of the series. Josh Farmer retired the first 13 batters of the game until Ali Camarillo singled with one out in the fourth. Farmer went on to induce a double play after the Camarillo hit.
Meanwhile, Mercer capitalized on four CSUN walks issued by Kenji Pallares in the bottom of the first inning to plate the game's first run. Hayden Cody entered the fray with two outs in the first inning and would strand the bases loaded in the frame.
Cody blanked the Bears in the second inning but Mercer responded with a two-run bottom of the third. Ty Dalley came away with an RBI single while Bradley Frye later hit a sacrifice fly for a 3-0 lead.
Mercer eventually stretched its lead to 4-0 on a fifth inning solo home run from Jozsef Rohrbacher off Xavier Martinez.
The Matadors were one-hit through five innings until finally breaking through in the sixth. Sojka began the rally by drawing a one-out walk. Moments later, Kamau Neighbors rifled a double down the left-field line to put CSUN on the scoreboard. A Simons single kept the rally going then Fitzer delivered a two-out RBI single to bring CSUN to within 4-2.
A comeback though was not in the cards. CSUN left two base runners stranded to end the sixth while Wesley Franklin retired the Matadors in order in the top of the seventh to secure the win for Mercer.
GAME NOTES
Kevin Fitzer finished the doubleheader with three hits, five RBI and a home run while Jakob Simons had four hits, three RBi and a homer. Graysen Tarlow reached base safely in game one of the doubleheader but did not reach in game two as his on-base streak was snapped at 24 games.
Thomas Bainton (4-1) earned his second complete game of the season while he struck out eight batters for the second-straight start.
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ACCORDING TO COACH EDDIE CORNEJO
"It's never easy to take two games of a doubleheader on the road against solid teams. Bainton was as good as we've seen him with command and competitiveness. I was proud of how we responded overall after the game one loss [on Friday].Â
We had our work cut out for us in game two and we didn't deliver. There were good moments but not enough to take a series. More than anything, I want our team to continue to learn and grow so we can play our best baseball down the stretch."
UP NEXT
CSUN returns to Big West play next weekend with a three-game road series at Long Beach State. The opener is set for Friday, April 14 at 6 p.m.
#GoMatadors
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Bainton, Thomas (4-1)
L: Ryan Lobus (3-3)
Batting:
2B: Sojka, Andrew 1
HR: Simons, Jakob 1 ; Fitzer, Kevin 1 ; Dean, Emanuel 1
RBI: Simons, Jakob 3 ; Fitzer, Kevin 4 ; Dean, Emanuel 1 ; Sojka, Andrew 2
SH: Barraza, Nathan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Simons, Jakob 2 ; Le, Mason 1 ; Tarlow, Graysen 1 ; Fitzer, Kevin 1 ; Griffin, Ben 1 ; Dean, Emanuel 1 ; Barraza, Nathan 1 ; Neighbors, Kamau 1 ; Sojka, Andrew 1
SB: Le, Mason 2 ; Barraza, Nathan 1
HBP: Leon, Brandon 1 ; Le, Mason 1 ; Tarlow, Graysen 1 ; Sojka, Andrew 1
Batting:
2B: Ty Dalley 1
RBI: Carter Sanford 1
SF: Carter Sanford 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Conner Todaro 1
HBP: Max Kops 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
2
H
3
RBI
3
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
4
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
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