CSUN Drops Home Opener to BYU

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Baseball fell in its home opener to BYU 19-3 on Friday at Robert J. Hiegert Field. Tyler Mejia homered for the first time as a Matador and drove in two runs on the night.

HOW IT HAPPENED
In the first-ever night game in CSUN Baseball history, the Cougars jumped on the Matadors at the outset. After a leadoff single to start the game, Ryder Robinson belted a two-run homer. From there, Easton Jones blasted a home runs while Luke Anderson and Brock Watkins followed with homers in a six-run top of the first.

Two innings later, BYU leaned on the long ball once more with four more homers as Anderson and Watkins hit their second apiece. Crew McChesney stroked a two-run homer as well to increase the Cougars' lead to 12-0 through three innings.

CSUN would strand five runners through the first three innings before finally breaking through in the top of the fourth on a leadoff homer from Mejia. Will Linberg followed with a walk, but a 4-6-3 double play moments later squashed the rally.

The Matadors though drew closer in the bottom of the fifth. The first three hitters reached to open the inning before a Jarren Sanderson fielder's choice brought home a run and a Mejia groundout drove in another to pull CSUN to within 12-3.

BYU though kept on piling on offensively, scoring twice more in the sixth, two in the eighth and three more in the ninth on a three-run blast from Ryker Schow for the 19-3 result.

NOTES OF THE GAME

CSUN drops to 1-3 on the season while BYU improves to 3-3.
BYU finished with 10 home runs on the day and 15 total extra base hits.
Max Mendes pitched effective out of the CSUN bullpen, tossing 1.2 shutout innings with three strikeouts.
Thursday was CSUN's first-ever home night game and its first under the newly-named Robert J. Hiegert Field.

ACCORDING TO COACH EDDIE CORNEJO
"The problem is it's the second bad start we've had in a row. Hopefully it doesn't become a habit. They hit the ball in the air today with the wind blowing out and we hit the ball in the ground, so we did the opposite of them, and we deserved the result because of it. We need to make more drastic adjustments, coach them better, play better baseball overall and have them better prepared."

UP NEXT
CSUN continues its weekend series with BYU on Friday at 4:30 p.m. with Ghizal Hasan on the call on ESPN+ and GoMatadors.com/Radio.

#GoMatadors

CSUN Drops Home Opener to BYU

Next Event

Team Stats

Roberto Gonzalez

Matthew Pena

Tyler Mejia

Will Linberg

Players Mentioned

Will Linberg

Tyler Mejia

Max Mendes

Jarren Sanderson

Players Mentioned

Will Linberg

Tyler Mejia

Max Mendes

Jarren Sanderson