Saturday, February 22
Northridge, Calif.
1:00 p.m.
California State University at Northridge
2-4
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BYU
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CSUN
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Photo by: Chuck Marvel
CSUN Takes Series Finale from BYU, 9-4
2/22/2025 6:26:00 PM | Baseball
NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Baseball defeated BYU 9-4 in the series finale on Saturday afternoon at Robert J. Hiegert Field. Matthew Kurata belted his first home run as a Matador while Andrew Becker and Elijah Fairchild drove in two runs apiece. Noah Rinehart made his first start on a pitching mound since 2021, pitching into the fifth inning to help CSUN to victory.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Rinehat gave the Matadors a huge lift at the start, retiring the side in order in the first before limiting the damage in the top of the second. Bryker Hurdsman gave the Cougars a 1-0 lead on an RBI single, but Rinehart struck out the next batter and Kurata threw out Hurdsman attempting to swipe second base to end the frame. Rinehart bounced back to sit down BYU 1-2-3 in the third, giving the Matador offense a chance to break through.
CSUN did in fact break through in the bottom of the third, beginning with a leadoff homer from Kurata. From there, four of the next five batters reached on walks as 12 of 13 pitches were out of the zone during that stretch. Matthew Pena then was hit by a pitch, resulting in CSUN taking a two-run advantage. Two batters later, Kyle Panganiban legged out an infield single to stretch the lead further to 4-1.
BYU would respond quickly in the top of the fourth when Cooper Vest belted a two-run homer. Rinehart though responded by retiring the next two batters to keep CSUN ahead 4-3.
In the fifth, Rinehart sat down two of the first three batters to close his day on the mound. Reliever Max Mendes took over soon after but was greeted unkindly with Crew McChesney driving in a run on a single to the right side, tying the game at 4-4.
The game was tied until the bottom of the sixth when the Matador bats came alive. The first three batters reached base safely to load the bases with nobody out before a wild pitch brought home the go-ahead run. Fairchild followed with a two-run single up the middle to stretch the lead. A Royce Clayton, Jr. single kept the rally going, setting the table for a one-out single from Becker, driving in two for a 9-4 lead.
The Matador bullpen took over in the late innings, keeping the Cougar bats at bay. Logan Miller struck out two in a shutout seventh while Hayden Hall pitched his way through the eighth. Gabriel Hernandez took over in the top of the ninth and pitched around a pair of hits to strike out Ridge Erickson for the final out of the game.
NOTES OF THE GAME
ACCORDING TO COACH EDDIE CORNEJO
"It starts with our starter Noah Rinehart. He hasn't pitched in three years, he's had two Tommy John surgeries and he really wants to contribute to our team, so our team fed off his competitiveness. We were essentially playing inning to inning to try to take the pressure off. We had a huge monkey on our back that we've been losing and we needed to stay more present, so we were trying to win each inning rather than win all nine innings."
UP NEXT
CSUN will play its next seven games on the road starting with a three-game weekend series at Oklahoma. The opener is set for Friday, Feb. 28 at 2 p.m. PT.
#GoMatadors
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HOW IT HAPPENED
Rinehat gave the Matadors a huge lift at the start, retiring the side in order in the first before limiting the damage in the top of the second. Bryker Hurdsman gave the Cougars a 1-0 lead on an RBI single, but Rinehart struck out the next batter and Kurata threw out Hurdsman attempting to swipe second base to end the frame. Rinehart bounced back to sit down BYU 1-2-3 in the third, giving the Matador offense a chance to break through.
CSUN did in fact break through in the bottom of the third, beginning with a leadoff homer from Kurata. From there, four of the next five batters reached on walks as 12 of 13 pitches were out of the zone during that stretch. Matthew Pena then was hit by a pitch, resulting in CSUN taking a two-run advantage. Two batters later, Kyle Panganiban legged out an infield single to stretch the lead further to 4-1.
BYU would respond quickly in the top of the fourth when Cooper Vest belted a two-run homer. Rinehart though responded by retiring the next two batters to keep CSUN ahead 4-3.
In the fifth, Rinehart sat down two of the first three batters to close his day on the mound. Reliever Max Mendes took over soon after but was greeted unkindly with Crew McChesney driving in a run on a single to the right side, tying the game at 4-4.
The game was tied until the bottom of the sixth when the Matador bats came alive. The first three batters reached base safely to load the bases with nobody out before a wild pitch brought home the go-ahead run. Fairchild followed with a two-run single up the middle to stretch the lead. A Royce Clayton, Jr. single kept the rally going, setting the table for a one-out single from Becker, driving in two for a 9-4 lead.
The Matador bullpen took over in the late innings, keeping the Cougar bats at bay. Logan Miller struck out two in a shutout seventh while Hayden Hall pitched his way through the eighth. Gabriel Hernandez took over in the top of the ninth and pitched around a pair of hits to strike out Ridge Erickson for the final out of the game.
NOTES OF THE GAME
- CSUN improves to 2-4 on the season while BYU drops to 4-4 overall.
- Matador pitching combined to strike out 10 batters.
- Mendes earned the victory, tossing 1.1 innings with no runs allowed and two strikeouts.
- Miller, Hall and Hernandez combined to strike out five batters with just three hits surrendered.
- Colton Boardman, Panganiban and Pena have reached base safely in all six games this season.
ACCORDING TO COACH EDDIE CORNEJO
"It starts with our starter Noah Rinehart. He hasn't pitched in three years, he's had two Tommy John surgeries and he really wants to contribute to our team, so our team fed off his competitiveness. We were essentially playing inning to inning to try to take the pressure off. We had a huge monkey on our back that we've been losing and we needed to stay more present, so we were trying to win each inning rather than win all nine innings."
UP NEXT
CSUN will play its next seven games on the road starting with a three-game weekend series at Oklahoma. The opener is set for Friday, Feb. 28 at 2 p.m. PT.
#GoMatadors
Â
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Mendes, Max (1-0)
L: Marx, Brayden (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Vest, Cooper 1
HR: Vest, Cooper 1
RBI: McChesney, Crew 1 ; Vest, Cooper 2 ; Hurdsman, Bryker 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Jones, Easton 1 ; Vest, Cooper 2 ; Watkins, Brock 1
CS: Hurdsman, Bryker 1
Batting:
HR: Kurata, Matthew 1
RBI: Becker, Andrew 2 ; Mejia, Tyler 1 ; Pena, Matthew 1 ; Panganiban, Kyle 1 ; Kurata, Matthew 1 ; Fairchild, Elijah 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Boardman, Colton 1 ; Becker, Andrew 1 ; Calvillo, Cameron 1 ; Panganiban, Kyle 1 ; Kurata, Matthew 2 ; Fairchild, Elijah 2 ; Clayton, Jr., Royce 1
HBP: Pena, Matthew 1 ; Panganiban, Kyle 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
2
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
AB
3
R
2
H
1
RBI
1
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