California State University Northridge Athletics
Tuesday, April 9
Northridge, Calif.
3:00 p.m.
California State University at Northridge
vs
California Baptist
Photo by: Chuck Marvel
CSUN Opens Homestand with CBU on Tuesday
4/8/2024 4:45:00 PM | Baseball
GAME NOTES
NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Baseball opens a four-game homestand starting Tuesday against California Baptist at Matador Field. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. Alex Naveja will have the call on ESPN+ and GoMatadors.com/Radio.
LEADING OFF
CSUN's return meeting with California Baptist opens a four-game week at Matador Field where the Matadors will also host Long Beach State in a three-game weekend series starting Friday. The Matadors, who took a break from Big West play with a non-conference series with Utah last week, are currently 2.5 games back of first place in conference standings and hold fourth place. Next week, CSUN returns to the road for a Big West series with Cal State Fullerton at Goodwin Field.
LAST TIME OUT
The Matadors traveled to Salt Lake City last weekend for the first-ever time to take on the University of Utah. CSUN would drop a high-scoring opener on Friday, 14-10, before rebounding with an 18-4 win on Sunday. The scheduled middle game of the series was canceled due to inclement weather.
CSUN produced 33 hits in the two-game series including 18 in the victory on Sunday. Kevin Fitzer had another big series for CSUN, posting four hits in game one and another two hits to go with six RBI and a homer in game two. Jakob Simons drove in five runs in Sunday's win while homering and Andrew Gauna had four hits with three RBI.
The Matadors' margin of victory on Sunday tied for their largest against a Pac-12 team overall in team history while they set a new record for the largest margin of victory on the road versus a Pac-12 opponent.
AT THE PLATE
Kevin Fitzer enters Tuesday with a 25-game on-base streak with multiple-hit efforts in six of his last eight games. Over the eight-game stretch, Fitzer has increased his batting average over 107 points to a team-best .420 batting average. He also has assumed the top spot on the team in RBI with 35 and stolen bases with nine along with an .870 slugging percentage and .520 on-base percentage. Kamau Neighbors is second on the team in hitting with a .337 average at the dish while he has a .486 on-base percentage, 25 walks, two homers and 19 RBI. Jakob Simons still holds the top spot on the team in homers with 10 to go with a robust .664 slugging percentage, a team-high 36 runs scored and 31 RBI. Ben Griffin is hitting .287 on the season with 19 runs scored and 18 RBI while Shunsuke Sakaino, who has reached base in 18 straight, is batting .283 with 19 runs scored, 16 RBI and a pair of homers.
Freshman Jarren Sanderson holds the team's long hitting streak of the season with 12 in a row as he is batting .444 with 16 RBI in just 15 games. Junior Andrew Gauna has also surged at the plate, improving his hitting average from .240 to .309 over the last four games while he has three homers and 16 RBI.
ON THE MOUND
Justin Vose notched his first win of his Matador career on Sunday at Utah, tossing a season-high five innings and allowing two runs. Vose has been one of the team's top newcomers on the mound thus far, posting a season 3.00 ERA and 25 strikeouts over 24 total innings and 10 appearances. Joshua Romero, who did not appear in the Utah series, enters play this week with a team-best 1.61 ERA to go with 19 strikeouts, six wins and four saves in 12 relief appearances.
BIG WEST LEADERBOARDS
CSUN enters the week leading The Big West in homers (34) while the team ranks first in the league and fourth in the nation in sacrifice hits (33). The Matadors are also second in the conference in batting average (.291), runs scored (228), RBI (208), slugging percentage (.457) and stolen bases (40). Individually, Kevin Fitzer tops the league in OPS (1.390) and slugging percentage (.870) while he ranks second in batting average (.420), doubles (12), homers (9) and RBI (35). Jakob Simons ranks first in the conference in homers (10), second in runs (36) and slugging (.654), third in OPS (1.122) and fifth in RBI (31). On the pitching side, Joshua Romero ranks first in The Big West in wins with six and fourth in saves with four.
ABOUT CALIFORNIA BAPTIST
The Lancers are 19-13 on the season after taking two of three games from Sacramento State on the road last weekend. CBU has gone 8-4 in the WAC thus far this season. Prior to the year, CBU was picked to finish in third place in the WAC. On the road this season, the Lancers are 8-4. The team has played Big West squads 11 times this season with wins in seven games. Michael Carpentier leads the team in several categories including batting average (.341), hits (45) and RBI (24) while his 18 doubles are second-best in the nation. Mitchel Simon tops the team in the home runs department with eight followed by Nicholas Dumesnil at six. As a pitching staff, the Lancers lead the WAC with a 4.07 ERA.Â
Series History: CSUN leads CBU 9-2 in the all-time series with wins in seven of eight games at Matador Field. CBU claimed the first meeting of the season in Riverside on March 25 via a walk-off RBI single from Dumesnil.
#GoMatadors
Â
NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Baseball opens a four-game homestand starting Tuesday against California Baptist at Matador Field. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. Alex Naveja will have the call on ESPN+ and GoMatadors.com/Radio.
LEADING OFF
CSUN's return meeting with California Baptist opens a four-game week at Matador Field where the Matadors will also host Long Beach State in a three-game weekend series starting Friday. The Matadors, who took a break from Big West play with a non-conference series with Utah last week, are currently 2.5 games back of first place in conference standings and hold fourth place. Next week, CSUN returns to the road for a Big West series with Cal State Fullerton at Goodwin Field.
LAST TIME OUT
The Matadors traveled to Salt Lake City last weekend for the first-ever time to take on the University of Utah. CSUN would drop a high-scoring opener on Friday, 14-10, before rebounding with an 18-4 win on Sunday. The scheduled middle game of the series was canceled due to inclement weather.
CSUN produced 33 hits in the two-game series including 18 in the victory on Sunday. Kevin Fitzer had another big series for CSUN, posting four hits in game one and another two hits to go with six RBI and a homer in game two. Jakob Simons drove in five runs in Sunday's win while homering and Andrew Gauna had four hits with three RBI.
The Matadors' margin of victory on Sunday tied for their largest against a Pac-12 team overall in team history while they set a new record for the largest margin of victory on the road versus a Pac-12 opponent.
AT THE PLATE
Kevin Fitzer enters Tuesday with a 25-game on-base streak with multiple-hit efforts in six of his last eight games. Over the eight-game stretch, Fitzer has increased his batting average over 107 points to a team-best .420 batting average. He also has assumed the top spot on the team in RBI with 35 and stolen bases with nine along with an .870 slugging percentage and .520 on-base percentage. Kamau Neighbors is second on the team in hitting with a .337 average at the dish while he has a .486 on-base percentage, 25 walks, two homers and 19 RBI. Jakob Simons still holds the top spot on the team in homers with 10 to go with a robust .664 slugging percentage, a team-high 36 runs scored and 31 RBI. Ben Griffin is hitting .287 on the season with 19 runs scored and 18 RBI while Shunsuke Sakaino, who has reached base in 18 straight, is batting .283 with 19 runs scored, 16 RBI and a pair of homers.
Freshman Jarren Sanderson holds the team's long hitting streak of the season with 12 in a row as he is batting .444 with 16 RBI in just 15 games. Junior Andrew Gauna has also surged at the plate, improving his hitting average from .240 to .309 over the last four games while he has three homers and 16 RBI.
ON THE MOUND
Justin Vose notched his first win of his Matador career on Sunday at Utah, tossing a season-high five innings and allowing two runs. Vose has been one of the team's top newcomers on the mound thus far, posting a season 3.00 ERA and 25 strikeouts over 24 total innings and 10 appearances. Joshua Romero, who did not appear in the Utah series, enters play this week with a team-best 1.61 ERA to go with 19 strikeouts, six wins and four saves in 12 relief appearances.
BIG WEST LEADERBOARDS
CSUN enters the week leading The Big West in homers (34) while the team ranks first in the league and fourth in the nation in sacrifice hits (33). The Matadors are also second in the conference in batting average (.291), runs scored (228), RBI (208), slugging percentage (.457) and stolen bases (40). Individually, Kevin Fitzer tops the league in OPS (1.390) and slugging percentage (.870) while he ranks second in batting average (.420), doubles (12), homers (9) and RBI (35). Jakob Simons ranks first in the conference in homers (10), second in runs (36) and slugging (.654), third in OPS (1.122) and fifth in RBI (31). On the pitching side, Joshua Romero ranks first in The Big West in wins with six and fourth in saves with four.
ABOUT CALIFORNIA BAPTIST
The Lancers are 19-13 on the season after taking two of three games from Sacramento State on the road last weekend. CBU has gone 8-4 in the WAC thus far this season. Prior to the year, CBU was picked to finish in third place in the WAC. On the road this season, the Lancers are 8-4. The team has played Big West squads 11 times this season with wins in seven games. Michael Carpentier leads the team in several categories including batting average (.341), hits (45) and RBI (24) while his 18 doubles are second-best in the nation. Mitchel Simon tops the team in the home runs department with eight followed by Nicholas Dumesnil at six. As a pitching staff, the Lancers lead the WAC with a 4.07 ERA.Â
Series History: CSUN leads CBU 9-2 in the all-time series with wins in seven of eight games at Matador Field. CBU claimed the first meeting of the season in Riverside on March 25 via a walk-off RBI single from Dumesnil.
#GoMatadors
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