California State University at Northridge
9-9, 0-2
Cal Poly
10-8, 2-0
CSUN Drops Game Two at Cal Poly
3/16/2024 6:38:00 PM | Baseball
HOW IT HAPPENED
CSUN had early chances to strike first on Saturday. The Matadors would pick up a pair of singles in the first inning, but each runner was erased attempting to steal bases. An inning later, the Matadors collected two singles with two outs before Will Linberg was retired on a lineout.
In contrast, Cal Poly would take advantage of its scoring chance in the bottom of the second. Three of the first four batters reached on singles with Casey Murray driving in the game's first run. Aaron Casillas followed with a two-run double, and Evan Cloyd added an RBI single of his own for an early 4-1 Cal Poly lead.
Steven Brooks blanked the Matadors through the first four frames until Gauna scored on an RBI groundout from Sanderson.
The Mustangs though answered with a two-spot in the bottom of the fifth as two early singles in the inning later resulted on RBI groundouts. Cal Poly opened its lead further in the sixth with another big inning. A bases loaded walk pushed across the team's seventh run and Ryan Fenn capped the inning with a two-run double to stretch the lead to 9-1.
Down by eight, the Matadors managed to cut the deficit in half in one frame. In the seventh, Gauna began a two-out rally with a single. Linberg followed with a single and Sanderson delivered a two-run single of his own. Shunsuke Sakaino kept the inning alive with a double before Kevin Fitzer came off the bench to double in two more runs to suddenly cut the deficit to 9-5.
However, Cal Poly's best inning was yet to come. In the home half of the seventh, The team batted around in the inning and scored six times with two outs. Cloyd doubled in two runs in the frame while Jake Steels hit an RBI single and Fenn provided the big blow, a three-run home run. The Mustangs added two more in the eighth for good measure with Casillas going deep for a two-run shot to extend to a 17-5 lead.
NOTES OF THE GAME
- CSUN falls to 9-9 overall and 0-2 in Big West play while Cal Poly is 10-8 overall and 2-0 in conference.
- Along with Gauna, Sakaino and Linberg had multi-hit games with two apiece.
- Ryan Halamicek earned the start and went five innngs, giving up six runs.
CSUN looks to salvage the series finale when it takes on Cal Poly on Sunday at 1 p.m.
#GoMatadors
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Brooks, Steven (2-3)
L: Halamicek, Ryan (1-1)
Batting:
2B: Sakaino, Shunsuke 1 ; Fitzer, Kevin 1 ; Gauna, Andrew 1 ; Linberg, Will 1
RBI: Fitzer, Kevin 2 ; Sanderson, Jarren 3
Base Running:
RUNS: Sakaino, Shunsuke 1 ; Gauna, Andrew 2 ; Linberg, Will 1 ; Sanderson, Jarren 1
CS: Sakaino, Shunsuke 1 ; Gonzalez, Roberto 1
HBP: Griffin, Ben 1
Batting:
2B: Fenn, Ryan 1 ; Casillas, Aaron 2 ; Cloyd, Evan 2
HR: Fenn, Ryan 1 ; Casillas, Aaron 1
RBI: Steels, Jake 1 ; Stafford, Ryan 2 ; Fenn, Ryan 5 ; Yorke, Joe 1 ; Murray, Casey 1 ; Casillas, Aaron 4 ; Cloyd, Evan 3
Base Running:
RUNS: Steels, Jake 3 ; Stafford, Ryan 1 ; Fenn, Ryan 1 ; Yorke, Joe 1 ; Garza, Alejandro 1 ; Kordic, Dylan 3 ; Hoiland, Cam 1 ; Murray, Casey 1 ; Casillas, Aaron 3 ; Cloyd, Evan 2
SB: Steels, Jake 1
