Saturday, May 20
Northridge, Calif.
2:00 p.m.
California State University at Northridge
30-17, 16-10
11
vs
2
Hawai'i
26-19, 15-11
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Hawai'i
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
2
8
3
CSUN
1
2
1
3
0
0
3
1
X
11
13
3
Photo by: Connor Clark
Matadors Even Series with Hawai'i, Notch 30th Win
5/20/2023 5:39:00 PM | Baseball
NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Baseball (30-17, 16-10 Big West) evened its weekend series with Hawai'i with an 11-2 win on Saturday afternoon at Matador Field. Kevin Fitzer drove in four runs and homered for the eighth time this season while six total Matadors had two-hit efforts. Thomas Bainton improved to 7-2 on the season with six innings of work and one run allowed. The Matadors reached 30 wins for the second consecutive season.
After suffering its first shutout loss of the season on Friday, CSUN would come out as the aggressors at the outset of Saturday's contest. Andrew Sojka walked and Shunsuke Sakaino singled to open the bottom of the first. After CSUN moved both runners into scoring position, Ali Camarillo executed a squeeze bunt with two outs to score Sojka from third base.
The Matadors did leave the bases loaded in the first inning but responded with a two-run second. Ben Griffin opened up the frame with a single then Mason Le reached on a sacrifice bunt attempt. Sojka put down another bunt leading to an errant throw down to first base, which allowed Griffin to score. Sakaino then knocked in another run moments later via a groundout.
In the third, Nathan Barraza would make it a 4-0 game on a fielder's choice, scoring Camaillo who earlier hit a leadoff double. CSUN also took advantage of two walks in the fourth inning to eventually plate a pair of runs on sacrifice flies. Jakob Simons capped a three-run fourth with an RBI double, extending the lead to 7-0.
On the flip side, Thomas Bainton shut down the Hawai'i offense over his six innings of work. Bainton retired six of the first seven batters he faced to kick off the game. The Rainbow Warriors would pick up a pair of infield singles in the third but catcher Graysen Tarlow threw out Aaron Ujimori on a back pick to help slow down the rally.
Bainton eventually stranded two base runners in the third before leaving two more on the base paths in the fourth. The right hander pitched a 1-2-3 fifth inning but Hawai'i broke up the shutout in the sixth. Bainton would leave another runner stranded at third base in the sixth and turn the ball over to the bullpen an inning later.
Hawai'i got a run closer in the top of the seventh, capitalizing on an early CSUN error to the cut the lead to 7-2. The Matador though quickly respoinded in the home half of the frame. Singles from Sojka and Sakaino set the table in the frame before Fitzer delivered a three-run homer with two outs.
CSUN added to its lead in the eighth when a dropped fly ball in left field allowed Joey Kramer to score from second base.
Out of the bullpen, Hayden Cody worked two innings, allowing an unearned run while Ryan Wentz tossed a clean top of the ninth.
Â
GAME NOTES
CSUN has posted back-to-back 30-win seasons for the first time since 2015-16.
Ali Camarillo went 2-for-3 with two RBI en route to extending his on-base streak to 17 games. Jakob Simons would go 2-for-4 on the day, notching his team-best 20th multiple-hit game of the year. Shunsuke Sakaino, Kevin Fitzer and Ben Griffin also had two-hit performances on Saturday.
Thomas Bainton's quality start was his fifth of the season and fourth in Big West play.
ACCORDING TO COACH EDDIE CORNEJO
"They did their job today. I take full responsibility for yesterday. I had a game plan that we were going to challenge them on defense and I didn't go for it. I liked the way we responded from yesterday. We came out aggressive. They gave us some pitches to hit and we capatalized. I still think we need to get better because we missed a lot of opportunities offensively. They gave us a lot of opportunities. I don't think Sunday's game will be that way. i think we'll both play cleaner defense, that's the goal, so we have to be ready to play our A-game tomorrow if we want to win this series.
Thomas [Bainton] is really good about picking up his teammates. He's one of the guys that is always engaged no matter what game we're in, whether we're down or whether we're up. I'm not surprised that he picked us up once again."
Â
UP NEXT
CSUN and Hawai'i play the rubber game of their series on Sunday at 1 p.m. Ghizal Hasan has the call on ESPN+ and GoMatadors.com/Radio.
Â
#GoMatadors
Â
After suffering its first shutout loss of the season on Friday, CSUN would come out as the aggressors at the outset of Saturday's contest. Andrew Sojka walked and Shunsuke Sakaino singled to open the bottom of the first. After CSUN moved both runners into scoring position, Ali Camarillo executed a squeeze bunt with two outs to score Sojka from third base.
The Matadors did leave the bases loaded in the first inning but responded with a two-run second. Ben Griffin opened up the frame with a single then Mason Le reached on a sacrifice bunt attempt. Sojka put down another bunt leading to an errant throw down to first base, which allowed Griffin to score. Sakaino then knocked in another run moments later via a groundout.
In the third, Nathan Barraza would make it a 4-0 game on a fielder's choice, scoring Camaillo who earlier hit a leadoff double. CSUN also took advantage of two walks in the fourth inning to eventually plate a pair of runs on sacrifice flies. Jakob Simons capped a three-run fourth with an RBI double, extending the lead to 7-0.
On the flip side, Thomas Bainton shut down the Hawai'i offense over his six innings of work. Bainton retired six of the first seven batters he faced to kick off the game. The Rainbow Warriors would pick up a pair of infield singles in the third but catcher Graysen Tarlow threw out Aaron Ujimori on a back pick to help slow down the rally.
Bainton eventually stranded two base runners in the third before leaving two more on the base paths in the fourth. The right hander pitched a 1-2-3 fifth inning but Hawai'i broke up the shutout in the sixth. Bainton would leave another runner stranded at third base in the sixth and turn the ball over to the bullpen an inning later.
Hawai'i got a run closer in the top of the seventh, capitalizing on an early CSUN error to the cut the lead to 7-2. The Matador though quickly respoinded in the home half of the frame. Singles from Sojka and Sakaino set the table in the frame before Fitzer delivered a three-run homer with two outs.
CSUN added to its lead in the eighth when a dropped fly ball in left field allowed Joey Kramer to score from second base.
Out of the bullpen, Hayden Cody worked two innings, allowing an unearned run while Ryan Wentz tossed a clean top of the ninth.
Â
GAME NOTES
CSUN has posted back-to-back 30-win seasons for the first time since 2015-16.
Ali Camarillo went 2-for-3 with two RBI en route to extending his on-base streak to 17 games. Jakob Simons would go 2-for-4 on the day, notching his team-best 20th multiple-hit game of the year. Shunsuke Sakaino, Kevin Fitzer and Ben Griffin also had two-hit performances on Saturday.
Thomas Bainton's quality start was his fifth of the season and fourth in Big West play.
ACCORDING TO COACH EDDIE CORNEJO
"They did their job today. I take full responsibility for yesterday. I had a game plan that we were going to challenge them on defense and I didn't go for it. I liked the way we responded from yesterday. We came out aggressive. They gave us some pitches to hit and we capatalized. I still think we need to get better because we missed a lot of opportunities offensively. They gave us a lot of opportunities. I don't think Sunday's game will be that way. i think we'll both play cleaner defense, that's the goal, so we have to be ready to play our A-game tomorrow if we want to win this series.
Thomas [Bainton] is really good about picking up his teammates. He's one of the guys that is always engaged no matter what game we're in, whether we're down or whether we're up. I'm not surprised that he picked us up once again."
Â
UP NEXT
CSUN and Hawai'i play the rubber game of their series on Sunday at 1 p.m. Ghizal Hasan has the call on ESPN+ and GoMatadors.com/Radio.
Â
#GoMatadors
Â
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Bainton, Thomas (7-2)
L: Randy Abshier (5-3)
Batting:
2B: Jacob Igawa 1 ; Stone Miyao 1 ; Ben Zeigler-Namoa 1
RBI: Matt Wong 1 ; Ben Zeigler-Namoa 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Jacob Igawa 1 ; Zach Storbakken 1
PO: Aaron Ujimori 1
Batting:
2B: Camarillo, Ali 1 ; Simons, Jakob 1
HR: Fitzer, Kevin 1
RBI: Sakaino, Shunsuke 1 ; Fitzer, Kevin 4 ; Camarillo, Ali 2 ; Simons, Jakob 1 ; Barraza, Nathan 1
SH: Sojka, Andrew 1 ; Le, Mason 1
SF: Fitzer, Kevin 1 ; Camarillo, Ali 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Sojka, Andrew 3 ; Sakaino, Shunsuke 2 ; Tarlow, Graysen 1 ; Fitzer, Kevin 1 ; Camarillo, Ali 1 ; Kramer, Joey 1 ; Griffin, Ben 1 ; Le, Mason 1
SB: Sojka, Andrew 2
CS: Tarlow, Graysen 1
HBP: Simons, Jakob 1 ; Barraza, Nathan 1
PO: Tarlow, Graysen 1 ; Simons, Jakob 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
1
AB
5
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
4
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
2
Players Mentioned
RHP
/ Baseball
UTIL
/ BaseballINF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballINF/OF
/ Baseball
OF/C
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
OF
/ BaseballC
/ Baseball
RHP
/ 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