CSUN Visits Utah in Weekend Series

Friday, April 5

Salt Lake City, Utah

9:00 a.m.

California State University at Northridge

Utah

Photo by: Dianne Wentz

CSUN Visits Utah in Weekend Series

4/4/2024 3:25:00 PM | Baseball

GAME NOTES

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Baseball hits the road for its final non-conference series against Utah. The opener is set for Friday at 9 a.m. PT followed by games on Saturday and Sunday with each set to begin at 6 p.m. PT. All three games will be streamed, and links can be found at GoMatadors.com.

PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS
CSUN at Utah
RHP Thomas Bainton (2-0, 2.77 ERA) vs. LHP Bryson Van Sickle (0-0, 1.96 ERA)
RHP Ryan Halamicek (3-2, 5.67 ERA) vs. TBA
TBA vs. TBA

LEADING OFF
CSUN is taking a break from Big West play with its series against Utah. The Matadors are making their first-ever trip to the University of Utah in team history. CSUN resumes Big West play next weekend with a home series with Long Beach State starting Friday, April 12.

The Matadors are currently tied for second place in The Big West standings at 6-3 while they are two games back of first place UC Irvine at 8-1. UC San Diego (6-3), Cal Poly (6-3) and UC Santa Barbara (4-2) are also tied for second place in the conference.

ABOUT LAST WEEK
CSUN won its second consecutive Big West series last weekend, taking two of three games from UC Davis at Matador Field. The Matadors hammered four homers in the opener of the series and led by as many as nine runs before holding off the Aggies late for a 13-9 win. In game two, CSUN was two outs away from a series win before the Aggies rallied for two runs in the ninth en route to a 5-4 victory to even the series. The Matadors would bounce back in the finale for an 11-2 win behind three homers including two from Kevin Fitzer while Ryan Halamicek tossed a quality start on the mound for the win.

FITZER EARNS SECOND CONSECUTIVE BIG WEST HONOR
Kevin Fitzer became the first Matador since 2002 to earn back-to-back Big West Field Player of the Week awards on April 1. Fitzer slashed .636/.667/1.636 at the plate while totaling three homers, seven RBI, seven runs scored and two stolen bases in helping CSUN to a series win over UC Davis. Fitzer went 3-for-4 with three RBI and a home run in the opener of the series, a 13-9 victory. He would close the series with a perfect 4-for-4 day with two homers and four RBI in a 11-2 triumph to clinch th series. Fitzer won his first Big West Field Player of the Week award on March 25.

AT THE PLATE
Fitzer's big series with UC Davis has propelled him to the team lead in batting average (.396), slugging percentage (.824), doubles (9) and RBI (28). Fitzer has also hit the second-most homers with eight and racked up eight stolen bases in eight chances. He comes into the weekend with a 23-game on-base streak as he has reached base safely in 24 of 25 total games. Freshman outfielder Jarren Sanderson has earned his way into a starting role as of late and heads into the week on a 10-game hit streak. Sanderson has increased his batting average to .472 with one homer and 14 RBi. Jakob Simons remains a top hitter in the lineup as he has a team-high nine homers to go with 26 RBI, 32 runs scored and a .311 batting average. Other key hitters in the lineup include Kamau Neighbors who is batting a career-high .330 with 25 runs scored and Shunsuke Sakaino who is hitting .283 with two homers and 15 RBI.

ON THE MOUND
Friday starter Thomas Bainton notched his second win of the season last Thursday against UC Davis. Bainton worked six innings with one run allowed last week for his third quality start of the year. On the season, Bainton holds a 2-0 record with a 2.77 ERA and a team-high 41 strikeouts in 39 innings. Ryan Halamicek is coming off a victory last week in the rubber game with UC Davis and he holds a 5.67 ERA with 15 strikeouts and three wins.

BIG WEST LEADERBOARDS
Kevin Fitzer tops The Big West with a 1.324 OPS and .824 slugging percentage while he ranks second in homers (8) and doubles (9), fourth in RBI (28) and stolen bases (8), fifth in batting average (.396) and sixth in runs (27). Jakob Simons is ranked first in the conference in homers (9), second in runs scored (32), fourth in OPS (1.088), slugging (.641) and stolen bases (8), and sixth in RBI (26). On the walks list, Kamau Neighbors remains in third place with 24. On the pitching side, Thomas Bainton is ninth in the conference in ERA (2.77) while Joshua Romero is second in wins (6) and third in saves (4).

ABOUT UTAH
The Utes are 20-8 on the season with a 7-5 record in the Pac-12. The team is coming off a series win over Stanford at home last weekend while Utah beat Utah Valley twice earlier this week. A season ago, Utah went 22-32-1 overall with a 9-20-1 conference record. Utah was picked to finish 10th in the Pac-12 at the beginning of the season. Kai Roberts tops the team with a .381 batting average, 18 stolen bases, 12 doubles, five homers and 31 RBI while Core Jackson has hit .354 at the plate with 31 runs scored and 19 RBI. On the pitching side, Merit Jones has a team-best 36 strikeouts to go with a 3.89 ERA and 2-1 record. As a team, Utah leads the Pac-12 with 60 stolen bases this year.

Series History: CSUN leads Utah 6-4 in the all-time series, but the teams have not met since the 2003 season. The Matadors would host the Utes in a three-game series at home in 2003 with the Utes sweeping the series, however, CSUN picked up a neutral-site win over Utah later in the season by a 9-8 score.

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