Tuesday, April 30
Northridge, Calif.
3:00 p.m.
California State University at Northridge
28-14
2
vs
0
San Diego State
11-33
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
San Diego State
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
7
2
CSUN
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
X
2
5
0
Photo by: Chuck Marvel
CSUN Blanks San Diego State 2-0 for Ninth Straight Win
4/30/2024 6:28:00 PM | Baseball
NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Baseball used eight pitchers to toss a seven-hit shutout of San Diego State in a 2-0 victory on Tuesday afternoon at Matador Field. Blake Ignaciak notched his first win of the season with 1.1 innings of relief while Hayden Hall secured his first save. Shunsuke Sakaino drove in a run and reached base three times. The Matadors have won nine-straight games for the first time since 2016.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Runs were hard to come by on Tuesday as neither side could break through over the first five innings.
Destin Allen-Fox earned the start for CSUN and worked two innings, stranding a pair of runners in the first and another in the second. Adan Perez would work the next two frames, allowing a pair of hits while Lucas Casey and Ignaciak combined to toss a scoreless fifth.Â
San Diego State threatened in the top of the sixth when Tino Bethancourt hit a leadoff double. After a sacrifice bunt moved Bethancourt to third, Ignaciak struck out Sammy Kahler looking and retired David Whittle on a lineout to end the inning.
On the flip side, CSUN was unable to get much going against Aztec pitching for most of the day. The Matadors were hitless through the first two innings before getting a runner into scoring position in the third when Conner Stewart singled and reached second on a passed ball. However, Aidan Russell struck out Will Linberg to end that frame. Russell would strand a pair of Matadors on the base paths in the fourth before reliever Connor Abadie retired the side in order in the fifth.
The Matadors though broke through in the sixth, behind a two-out rally. With Jakob Simons at first base and two outs, Andrew Sojka singled to put runners at the corners. Moments later, Sojka stole second base, but a throwing error on the play allowed Simons to touch home plate. Sakaino followed with an RBI single to right for a 2-0 lead.
CSUN's bullpen remained strong in the late innings in protecting the slim lead. After Gerald Hanson tossed a shutout seventh, Hayden Cody and Gabriel Hernandez teamed up to strand two runners in the eighth. Hayden Hall would finish off the game with a 1-2-3 top of the ninth.
NOTES OF THE GAME
ACCORDING TO COACH EDDIE CORNEJO
"We had a plan of using a lot of pitchers to get them work, but I wasn't going to sacrifice a game for someone to get work in. It was about who had earned the right to pitch. Those that pitched today under the conditions we had to play under did a good job.
"I thought that [San Diego State's pitching] did a good job. It was a combination of them doing a good job, us not being fully ready and maybe taking this game for granted a little bit. We need to be better. I started to push buttons to see if putting pressure on their defense could solicit something and it ended up just working out. If we want to have the season that we ultimately want, we need to be better even when the pitching is good."
UP NEXT
CSUN makes the trip to Hawai'i for a three-game series. The opener is set for Friday at 9:35 p.m. PT on ESPN+.
#GoMatadors
Â
HOW IT HAPPENED
Runs were hard to come by on Tuesday as neither side could break through over the first five innings.
Destin Allen-Fox earned the start for CSUN and worked two innings, stranding a pair of runners in the first and another in the second. Adan Perez would work the next two frames, allowing a pair of hits while Lucas Casey and Ignaciak combined to toss a scoreless fifth.Â
San Diego State threatened in the top of the sixth when Tino Bethancourt hit a leadoff double. After a sacrifice bunt moved Bethancourt to third, Ignaciak struck out Sammy Kahler looking and retired David Whittle on a lineout to end the inning.
On the flip side, CSUN was unable to get much going against Aztec pitching for most of the day. The Matadors were hitless through the first two innings before getting a runner into scoring position in the third when Conner Stewart singled and reached second on a passed ball. However, Aidan Russell struck out Will Linberg to end that frame. Russell would strand a pair of Matadors on the base paths in the fourth before reliever Connor Abadie retired the side in order in the fifth.
The Matadors though broke through in the sixth, behind a two-out rally. With Jakob Simons at first base and two outs, Andrew Sojka singled to put runners at the corners. Moments later, Sojka stole second base, but a throwing error on the play allowed Simons to touch home plate. Sakaino followed with an RBI single to right for a 2-0 lead.
CSUN's bullpen remained strong in the late innings in protecting the slim lead. After Gerald Hanson tossed a shutout seventh, Hayden Cody and Gabriel Hernandez teamed up to strand two runners in the eighth. Hayden Hall would finish off the game with a 1-2-3 top of the ninth.
NOTES OF THE GAME
- CSUN improved to 28-14 on the season while San Diego State falls to 11-33.
- Kevin Fitzer drew a walk to extend his on-base streak to 32 games.
- Sojka finished 1-for-3 on the day to stretch his hit streak to nine.
- CSUN pitching has tossed 18 consecutive shutout innings.
ACCORDING TO COACH EDDIE CORNEJO
"We had a plan of using a lot of pitchers to get them work, but I wasn't going to sacrifice a game for someone to get work in. It was about who had earned the right to pitch. Those that pitched today under the conditions we had to play under did a good job.
"I thought that [San Diego State's pitching] did a good job. It was a combination of them doing a good job, us not being fully ready and maybe taking this game for granted a little bit. We need to be better. I started to push buttons to see if putting pressure on their defense could solicit something and it ended up just working out. If we want to have the season that we ultimately want, we need to be better even when the pitching is good."
UP NEXT
CSUN makes the trip to Hawai'i for a three-game series. The opener is set for Friday at 9:35 p.m. PT on ESPN+.
#GoMatadors
Â
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Ignaciak, Blake (1-1)
L: MIRANDA, Evan (1-3)
S: Hall, Hayden (1)
Batting:
2B: JACKSON, Jake 1 ; BETHANCOURT, Tino 1
SH: WEEMS, Irvin 1 ; GONZALEZ, Xavier 1
Base Running:
HBP: GONZALEZ, Xavier 1
Batting:
RBI: Sakaino, Shunsuke 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Simons, Jakob 1 ; Sojka, Andrew 1
SB: Simons, Jakob 2 ; Sojka, Andrew 1
HBP: Simons, Jakob 1
Game Leaders
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
2
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
2
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
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