Thursday, February 20
Northridge, Calif.
5:30 p.m.
California State University at Northridge
vs
BYU
Photo by: Chuck Marvel
CSUN Opens Home Slate Featuring First-Ever Night Games
2/19/2025 10:43:00 AM | Baseball
GAME NOTES
NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Baseball (1-2) kicks off its 24-game home schedule this week by hosting BYU in a three-game set. The series represents the first night games in Matador team history. CSUN opens the series on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. before playing game two on Friday at 4:30 p.m. and the series finale on Saturday at 1 p.m. The first two night games will be broadcast on ESPN+.
NIGHT TIME BASEBALL AT ROBERT J. HIEGERT FIELD
A new era has begun at CSUN with the Matadors set to play under home lights for the first-ever time in their 67-year history. Installed during the offseason, the lights will illuminate the Matadors' home field for 15 of 24 games this season, bringing a vastly different experience to CSUN fans. In addition, as announced on Jan. 25, the Matadors have also changed the name of their home ballpark to Robert J. Hiegert Field in honor of their former skipper who remains the school's all-time wins leader. Hiegert won national championships in 1970 and 1984 and served as head coach for 18 seasons before becoming the school's athletic director.
ABOUT LAST WEEK
CSUN opened the 2025 season on the road, dropping two of three games at Santa Clara. In the opener, the Matadors built a 4-0 lead before Santa Clara scored four times in the bottom of the ninth on just one hit to rally for a 5-4 victory. CSUN led from start to finish in game two, building an eight-run lead and holding off a late Bronco charge for an 11-9 victory. In the rubber game, BYU rallied from an early 2-0 run deficit, scoring five times in the bottom of the first en route to an 8-3 win to take the series.
QUITE THE DEBUT
A total of 15 Matadors made their debut on the field this past weekend in Santa Clara. Perhaps one of the most impactful debuts came from freshman Colton Boardman who hit an even .500 at the plate in the series. Boardman totaled six hits, three runs, three RBI and two doubles as he hit safely in all three games. Newcomers Royce Clayton, Jr. and Cameron Calvillo also made their presence felt by each homering in the series. While not a new Matador, redshirt freshman Kyle Panganiban made his debut in the field for the first time in the series, hitting safely in all three games and scoring a pair of runs.
STRONG WORK ON THE MOUND
CSUN picked up a pair of solid starts on the mound in the Santa Clara series last week. Sophomore right hander Ryan Halamicek earned the opening day start and tossed five shutout innings and allowing just one hit, earning a no decision. On Saturday, junior right hander Diego Gutierrez followed with 5.1 innings of work and yielding three runs to go with five strikeouts for his first win of the season. Out of the bullpen, senior Blake Ignaciak racked up a pair of innings over two appearances, not allowing a run while sophomore Logan Miller tossed 2.2 innings, allowing just one earned run. Noah Rinehart made his first appearance in a game since 2021 this past Sunday, working 2.2 innings and giving up a run.
FAMILIAR FACES
After serving as role players last season, the tandem of Roberto Gonzalez and Matthew Pena each had a strong start to the 2025 season. Gonzalez, a senior, batted .333 from the leadoff spot this past weekend, scoring a team-high four runs to go with two RBI. Pena, a sophomore, collected six total RBI in the series including five in Saturday's victory while he homered once, scored twice and batted .333.
SCOUTING BYU
The Cougars are 2-3 on the season after earning a four-game split at Fresno State over the weekend and falling to UCLA this past Tuesday (15-4). BYU dropped its first two games to start the season to Fresno State (7-1, 13-4) but collected wins in games three (7-1) and four (6-4) to salvage a split. In 2024, BYU went 21-31 overall and 7-23 in the Big 12 Conference. The team was picked to finish 14th by the league's head coaches. Bryker Hurdsman tops the Cougars with a .412 batting average with seven hits and five runs scored. Luke Anderson also has a team-high seven RBI on the season with a homer and a .286 batting average. Reliever Stone Cushing picked up Preseason All-Big 12 honors after saving 10 games and posting a 3.93 ERA in 2024.
Series History: BYU leads CSUN 9-8-1 in the all-time series, which dates back to the 1966 season. The teams last played in 2018 in Northridge with the Cougars taking three of four games. The last eight games in the series have taken place at CSUN with BYU winning five of those games.
#GoMatadors
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NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Baseball (1-2) kicks off its 24-game home schedule this week by hosting BYU in a three-game set. The series represents the first night games in Matador team history. CSUN opens the series on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. before playing game two on Friday at 4:30 p.m. and the series finale on Saturday at 1 p.m. The first two night games will be broadcast on ESPN+.
NIGHT TIME BASEBALL AT ROBERT J. HIEGERT FIELD
A new era has begun at CSUN with the Matadors set to play under home lights for the first-ever time in their 67-year history. Installed during the offseason, the lights will illuminate the Matadors' home field for 15 of 24 games this season, bringing a vastly different experience to CSUN fans. In addition, as announced on Jan. 25, the Matadors have also changed the name of their home ballpark to Robert J. Hiegert Field in honor of their former skipper who remains the school's all-time wins leader. Hiegert won national championships in 1970 and 1984 and served as head coach for 18 seasons before becoming the school's athletic director.
ABOUT LAST WEEK
CSUN opened the 2025 season on the road, dropping two of three games at Santa Clara. In the opener, the Matadors built a 4-0 lead before Santa Clara scored four times in the bottom of the ninth on just one hit to rally for a 5-4 victory. CSUN led from start to finish in game two, building an eight-run lead and holding off a late Bronco charge for an 11-9 victory. In the rubber game, BYU rallied from an early 2-0 run deficit, scoring five times in the bottom of the first en route to an 8-3 win to take the series.
QUITE THE DEBUT
A total of 15 Matadors made their debut on the field this past weekend in Santa Clara. Perhaps one of the most impactful debuts came from freshman Colton Boardman who hit an even .500 at the plate in the series. Boardman totaled six hits, three runs, three RBI and two doubles as he hit safely in all three games. Newcomers Royce Clayton, Jr. and Cameron Calvillo also made their presence felt by each homering in the series. While not a new Matador, redshirt freshman Kyle Panganiban made his debut in the field for the first time in the series, hitting safely in all three games and scoring a pair of runs.
STRONG WORK ON THE MOUND
CSUN picked up a pair of solid starts on the mound in the Santa Clara series last week. Sophomore right hander Ryan Halamicek earned the opening day start and tossed five shutout innings and allowing just one hit, earning a no decision. On Saturday, junior right hander Diego Gutierrez followed with 5.1 innings of work and yielding three runs to go with five strikeouts for his first win of the season. Out of the bullpen, senior Blake Ignaciak racked up a pair of innings over two appearances, not allowing a run while sophomore Logan Miller tossed 2.2 innings, allowing just one earned run. Noah Rinehart made his first appearance in a game since 2021 this past Sunday, working 2.2 innings and giving up a run.
FAMILIAR FACES
After serving as role players last season, the tandem of Roberto Gonzalez and Matthew Pena each had a strong start to the 2025 season. Gonzalez, a senior, batted .333 from the leadoff spot this past weekend, scoring a team-high four runs to go with two RBI. Pena, a sophomore, collected six total RBI in the series including five in Saturday's victory while he homered once, scored twice and batted .333.
SCOUTING BYU
The Cougars are 2-3 on the season after earning a four-game split at Fresno State over the weekend and falling to UCLA this past Tuesday (15-4). BYU dropped its first two games to start the season to Fresno State (7-1, 13-4) but collected wins in games three (7-1) and four (6-4) to salvage a split. In 2024, BYU went 21-31 overall and 7-23 in the Big 12 Conference. The team was picked to finish 14th by the league's head coaches. Bryker Hurdsman tops the Cougars with a .412 batting average with seven hits and five runs scored. Luke Anderson also has a team-high seven RBI on the season with a homer and a .286 batting average. Reliever Stone Cushing picked up Preseason All-Big 12 honors after saving 10 games and posting a 3.93 ERA in 2024.
Series History: BYU leads CSUN 9-8-1 in the all-time series, which dates back to the 1966 season. The teams last played in 2018 in Northridge with the Cougars taking three of four games. The last eight games in the series have taken place at CSUN with BYU winning five of those games.
#GoMatadors
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