CSUN Falls in Series Finale to Long Beach State, 10-7

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Baseball raced out to an early six-run lead but could not hold off a Long Beach State rally as the Matadors fell 10-7 on Monday at Matador Field. Jakob Simons hit a grand slam in the ballgame while Nathan Barraza drove in two and scored twice.

HOW IT HAPPENED
CSUN controlled the first three innings of play, jumping in front in the bottom of the second. Barraza gave CSUN the early one-run lead with an infield RBI single to plate Shunsuke Sakaino. CSUN eventually loaded the bases for Simons who hammered a two-out grand slam to left field for a 5-0 lead.

The Matadors added a sixth run in the bottom of the third when Mason Le hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Andrew Gauna.

CSUN starter Justin Vose was effective in the early going, blanking the Dirtbags through the first three-plus innings while racking up six strikeouts. However, Long Beach began to rally with a big fourth inning, all with two outs. Vose retired the first two batters of the fourth but allowed the next three to reach. Justin Roulson followed with a grand slam to left field on the first pitch of the at bat to cut the deficit to 6-4.

The four-run fourth began a stretch where the Dirtbags scored in four consecutive innings. Long Beach State took advantage of an error in center field and a passed ball to plate two runs in the fifth to even the game up at 6-6. An inning later, Adrian Lopez put the Dirtbags ahead on a two-out RBI single. Armando Briseno added to the lead in the seventh on a one-out RBI single of his own.

After the third inning, CSUN went scoreless over the next five frames thanks to stingy Dirtbag pitching. Owen Geiss tossed five innings out of the bullpen, allowing a run as he retired 12 consecutive batters during his outing.

Long Beach State picked up two insurance runs in the top of the ninth off RBI hits from Briseno and Kyle Ashworth, putting CSUN into a 10-6 hole with three outs left to work with.

CSUN mounted one last rally in the bottom of the ninth, eventually getting the tying run to the on deck circle. Barraza led off the inning with a double before eventually scoring on a passed ball. Kamau Neighbors drew a walk with one out, but Grant Cherry retired the next two batters in order to end the game.

NOTES OF THE GAME

CSUN falls to 19-14 overall and 8-4 in Big West play while Long Beach State improves to 18-14-1 overall and 6-9 in conference.
Neighbors, who had two hits, has reached in 15-straight games while he extended his hit streak to 14 games.
Simons has homered a team-leading 13 times on the year.
Justin Vose finished with four innings pitched and four runs allowed to go with six strikeouts.

ACCORDING TO COACH EDDIE CORNEJO
"The biggest difference was when we scored a lot of runs, they were consistent with their approach. They were chipping away and we were rising and falling with the score, so that's a lesson for us to not be so fair-weather. They maintained consistency after being punched and we didn't. We took our foot off the gas and were up and down with the score, which is uncharacteristic for us."

UP NEXT
CSUN hits the road for its next five games starting with a Tuesday midweek game at Pepperdine at 3 p.m.

#GoMatadors

CSUN Falls in Series Finale to Long Beach State, 10-7

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Team Stats

Kamau Neighbors

Nathan Barraza

Jakob Simons

Andrew Gauna

Players Mentioned

Nathan Barraza

Andrew Gauna

Mason Le

Kamau Neighbors

Shunsuke Sakaino

Jakob Simons

Justin Vose

Players Mentioned

Nathan Barraza

Andrew Gauna

Mason Le

Kamau Neighbors

Shunsuke Sakaino

Jakob Simons

Justin Vose