Friday, May 19
Northridge, Calif.
3:00 p.m.
California State University at Northridge
vs
Hawai'i
Photo by: Dianne Wentz
Matadors Host Hawai'i in Final Home Series
5/18/2023 1:00:00 PM | Baseball
FULL GAME NOTES
NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Baseball (29-16, 15-9 Big West) wraps up the home portion of its schedule this weekend with a three-game series with Hawai'i at Matador Field. The series opens on Friday at 3 p.m. before continuing on Saturday at 2 p.m. CSUN will celebrate Senior Day on Sunday with a 1 p.m. meeting with Hawai'i in the home finale of the season. Ghizal Hasan has the call all weekend on ESPN+ and GoMatadors.com/Radio.
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS
Hawai'i at CSUN
LHP Harry Gustin (3-3, 3.48 ERA) vs. RHP Lucas Braun (5-4, 5.14 ERA)
LHP Randy Abshier (5-2, 4.12 ERA) vs. RHP Thomas Bainton (6-2, 4.03 ERA)
TBA vs. LHP Jon Mocherman (2-1, 3.50 ERA)
LAST WEEK'S SERIES
CSUN would pick up its second consecutive series win and sixth overall in league play this past weekend as the Matadors took two of three games from UC Irvine. The Matadors would win a high-scoring series opener 15-10 before dropping game two 10-2. CSUN bounced back to take the rubber game by a 9-7 score to post its first home series win over UCI since the 2012 season.
The Matadors received 21 hits in the opener of the series led by No. 9 hitter Camron Mercurio who went 4-for-5 with two RBI. Kevin Fitzer homered twice in the win as well and drove in three runs.
In the rubber game, the Matadors erased an early 4-2 deficit with seven runs over the fourth and fifth innings before holding on in the late innings. Mason Le and Andrew Sojka had three-hit games and drove in two runs apiece in the victory. On the pitching side, the trio of Kenji Pallares, Xavier Martinez and Joshua Romero combined to work the final three innings allowing no runs.
SENIOR SALUTE
CSUN will honor Lucas Braun prior to Sunday's Senior Day matchup with Hawai'i. Braun will be graduating with a degree in Economics this May.
After spending his first two collegiate seasons at the University of San Diego, Braun has posted a 12-8 overall record in 33 appearances including 23 starts over two seasons at CSUN. Braun, an All-Big West Second Team selection last season, has totaled 161 total strikeouts in over 151 innings with the Matadors. This season, Braun has gone 5-4 with a 5.14 ERA to go with a team-best 84 strikeouts.
MATADOR HEADLINES
The Matadors enter play this weekend still alive for a Big West crown with six games remaining. CSUN (15-9) is in fourth place in The Big West standings but just two games back of first-place Cal State Fullerton (17-7). The Matadors though do not own the tiebreaker with the Titans and would need to finish ahead in the standings. Just above CSUN in second place is UC San Diego (18-9) while UC Santa Barbara sits in third place (16-8). Hawai'i (14-10) comes into the weekend in fifth place but only three games back of the top spot.
Joshua Romero notched his Big West-leading 10th save of the season in Sunday's win over UC Irvine. Romero, who is ranked 11th nationally in saves, has produced the second-most saves in a season in CSUN history. Conner O'Neil (2015-17) has the school record for single-season saves with 12 set during the 2015 season. On the career saves list at CSUN, Romero's 10 saves are already tied for the sixth-most with Joe Rocchio (2004-06).
CSUN checks in at 19th in the nation and first in The Big West in batting average (.310). The Matadors are also second in the conference in runs (347), RBI (324), on-base percentage (.397), slugging percentage (.474), sacrifice hits (35) and stolen bases (64). Individually, three Matadors are in the top-10 in The Big West in batting average as Ali Camarillo is third (.362), Jakob Simons is fourth (.358) and Kevin Fitzer is seventh (.338). Simons is also ranked second in the league in slugging percentage (.673), and third in home runs (12), on-base percentage (.455) and runs scored (45).
On the pitching side, Lucas Braun is third in The Big West in strikeouts (84) and innings pitched (77.0) and sixth in wins (5). Thomas Bainton checks in at third in wins (6) and fourth in innings pitched (76.0) in The Big West.
SERIES HISTORY
CSUN leads Hawai'i 39-22 in the all-time series, which dates back to 1981. The Matadors have won 21 of 26 meetings at Matador Field as well as the last two home series. The Rainbow Warriors did take two of three games from the Matadors last season in Hawai'i as CSUN was outscored 13-1 over the last two games of the series. CSUN last hosted Hawai'i in 2021, when the Matadors swept a four-game series.
SCOUTING HAWAI'I
The Rainbow Warriors hold a 25-18 overall record with a 14-10 mark in Big West play. Hawai'i swept UC Davis last weekend at Les Murakami Stadium. The team has gone 9-11 away from home this season. Prior to the season, the Bows was selected to finish sixth in The Big West standings by the conference's head coaches. Rich Hill is in his second season as head coach of the program.
Matt Wong tops the team in batting average (.316), runs scored (34) and hits (54) while Kyson Donahue is a close second in batting average (.315). Donahue leads the team in RBI (45) and shares the team lead in home runs with Wong at seven. On the mound, Connor Harrison is ranked third in The Big West in ERA (2.33) and has notched six saves to go with 40 strikeouts. Harry Gustin is also ninth in the conference in strikeouts (65) while he holds a 3-3 record and a 3.48 ERA. As a team, Hawai'i is ranked second in The Big West in doubles per game (2.02).
#GoMatadors
Â
NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Baseball (29-16, 15-9 Big West) wraps up the home portion of its schedule this weekend with a three-game series with Hawai'i at Matador Field. The series opens on Friday at 3 p.m. before continuing on Saturday at 2 p.m. CSUN will celebrate Senior Day on Sunday with a 1 p.m. meeting with Hawai'i in the home finale of the season. Ghizal Hasan has the call all weekend on ESPN+ and GoMatadors.com/Radio.
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS
Hawai'i at CSUN
LHP Harry Gustin (3-3, 3.48 ERA) vs. RHP Lucas Braun (5-4, 5.14 ERA)
LHP Randy Abshier (5-2, 4.12 ERA) vs. RHP Thomas Bainton (6-2, 4.03 ERA)
TBA vs. LHP Jon Mocherman (2-1, 3.50 ERA)
LAST WEEK'S SERIES
CSUN would pick up its second consecutive series win and sixth overall in league play this past weekend as the Matadors took two of three games from UC Irvine. The Matadors would win a high-scoring series opener 15-10 before dropping game two 10-2. CSUN bounced back to take the rubber game by a 9-7 score to post its first home series win over UCI since the 2012 season.
The Matadors received 21 hits in the opener of the series led by No. 9 hitter Camron Mercurio who went 4-for-5 with two RBI. Kevin Fitzer homered twice in the win as well and drove in three runs.
In the rubber game, the Matadors erased an early 4-2 deficit with seven runs over the fourth and fifth innings before holding on in the late innings. Mason Le and Andrew Sojka had three-hit games and drove in two runs apiece in the victory. On the pitching side, the trio of Kenji Pallares, Xavier Martinez and Joshua Romero combined to work the final three innings allowing no runs.
SENIOR SALUTE
CSUN will honor Lucas Braun prior to Sunday's Senior Day matchup with Hawai'i. Braun will be graduating with a degree in Economics this May.
After spending his first two collegiate seasons at the University of San Diego, Braun has posted a 12-8 overall record in 33 appearances including 23 starts over two seasons at CSUN. Braun, an All-Big West Second Team selection last season, has totaled 161 total strikeouts in over 151 innings with the Matadors. This season, Braun has gone 5-4 with a 5.14 ERA to go with a team-best 84 strikeouts.
MATADOR HEADLINES
The Matadors enter play this weekend still alive for a Big West crown with six games remaining. CSUN (15-9) is in fourth place in The Big West standings but just two games back of first-place Cal State Fullerton (17-7). The Matadors though do not own the tiebreaker with the Titans and would need to finish ahead in the standings. Just above CSUN in second place is UC San Diego (18-9) while UC Santa Barbara sits in third place (16-8). Hawai'i (14-10) comes into the weekend in fifth place but only three games back of the top spot.
Joshua Romero notched his Big West-leading 10th save of the season in Sunday's win over UC Irvine. Romero, who is ranked 11th nationally in saves, has produced the second-most saves in a season in CSUN history. Conner O'Neil (2015-17) has the school record for single-season saves with 12 set during the 2015 season. On the career saves list at CSUN, Romero's 10 saves are already tied for the sixth-most with Joe Rocchio (2004-06).
CSUN checks in at 19th in the nation and first in The Big West in batting average (.310). The Matadors are also second in the conference in runs (347), RBI (324), on-base percentage (.397), slugging percentage (.474), sacrifice hits (35) and stolen bases (64). Individually, three Matadors are in the top-10 in The Big West in batting average as Ali Camarillo is third (.362), Jakob Simons is fourth (.358) and Kevin Fitzer is seventh (.338). Simons is also ranked second in the league in slugging percentage (.673), and third in home runs (12), on-base percentage (.455) and runs scored (45).
On the pitching side, Lucas Braun is third in The Big West in strikeouts (84) and innings pitched (77.0) and sixth in wins (5). Thomas Bainton checks in at third in wins (6) and fourth in innings pitched (76.0) in The Big West.
SERIES HISTORY
CSUN leads Hawai'i 39-22 in the all-time series, which dates back to 1981. The Matadors have won 21 of 26 meetings at Matador Field as well as the last two home series. The Rainbow Warriors did take two of three games from the Matadors last season in Hawai'i as CSUN was outscored 13-1 over the last two games of the series. CSUN last hosted Hawai'i in 2021, when the Matadors swept a four-game series.
SCOUTING HAWAI'I
The Rainbow Warriors hold a 25-18 overall record with a 14-10 mark in Big West play. Hawai'i swept UC Davis last weekend at Les Murakami Stadium. The team has gone 9-11 away from home this season. Prior to the season, the Bows was selected to finish sixth in The Big West standings by the conference's head coaches. Rich Hill is in his second season as head coach of the program.
Matt Wong tops the team in batting average (.316), runs scored (34) and hits (54) while Kyson Donahue is a close second in batting average (.315). Donahue leads the team in RBI (45) and shares the team lead in home runs with Wong at seven. On the mound, Connor Harrison is ranked third in The Big West in ERA (2.33) and has notched six saves to go with 40 strikeouts. Harry Gustin is also ninth in the conference in strikeouts (65) while he holds a 3-3 record and a 3.48 ERA. As a team, Hawai'i is ranked second in The Big West in doubles per game (2.02).
#GoMatadors
Â
Players Mentioned
RHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
INF/OF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
C
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
RHP/C
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
OF
/ BaseballA Conversation With Dave Serrano
Friday, May 15
Baseball HC reveal 2019
Sunday, June 23
National Student-Athlete Day 2019 - Jayson Newman
Friday, April 05
CSUN Baseball - 27 Miles
Friday, November 09