Saturday, March 15
Northridge, Calif.
1:00 p.m.
California State University at Northridge
2-12, 0-4
3
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11
UC Irvine
12-5, 3-1
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UC Irvine
0
0
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2
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3
11
14
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CSUN
0
0
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3
0
0
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3
8
0
Photo by: Chuck Marvel
CSUN Baseball Drops a Pair to UC Irvine to Open Series
3/15/2025 9:39:00 PM | Baseball
NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Baseball dropped both ends of a Saturday doubleheader to UC Irvine at Robert J. Hiegert Field. The Matadors fell to 11-3 and 15-2 in the twinbill. Will Linberg finished with three combined hits in the doubleheader while Andrew Gauna homered and drove in two in the opener. Ryan Halamicek pitched into the eighth inning in game one, striking out five batters.
GAME 1 RECAP
It would be pitcher's duel in the first third of game one with Halamicek pitching around two hits over three shutout frames. UCI though broke through first in the top of the fourth with a leadoff homer from Jacob McCombs. Halamicek did bounce back to retire the next four batters, giving the CSUN offense a chance to break through.
In the home half of the fourth, the Matadors flexed their muscles with four consecutive hits to start. After a leadoff double from Andrew Becker, Gauna blasted a two-run homer to left to give CSUN the lead. A Linberg single kept the rally alive with Kyle Panganiban bringing in another run on an RBI double for a 3-1 lead.
The lead was short-lived though as the Anteaters broke though in the fifth on a big two-out RBI double from Anthony Martinez that nearly cleared the fence in right center. Moments later, Halamicek escaped further damage by striking out McCombs. The Anteaters were far from done, however, as UCI went ahead in the sixth on an RBI double from Zach Fjelstad. The lead grew to 6-4 on another two-out hit, this time from Blake Penso with a single to right.
The Matador bats would be unable to figure out reliever Rickey Ojeda who blanked the Matadors over the final five innings with CSUN managing two hits. Meanwhile, UCI broke open the game in the late innings, beginning in the eighth when Penso blasted a two-out three-run homer. Colin Yeaman collected a homer of his own in the ninth while Rowan Felsch added two more on a one-out double for the 11-3 victory.
GAME 2 RECAP
UC Irvine took control at the outset of game two and went on to finish with five home runs in the contest.
In the top of the first, Yeaman blasted another two-run homer for an early lead. He would hit his third homer of the day in the second inning as part of a three-run frame. The lead would remain 5-0 until the fourth wihen four more UCI runs came across. Anthony Martinez delivered the big blow, a three-run homer with two outs, which came after a CSUN error earlier in the inning.
UCI would get back-to-back homers in the top of the fifth as Fjelstad and Felsch contributed to a 12-0 lead. After four shutout innings by UCI's Trevor Hansen, the Matadors would finally get on the scoreboard in the home half of the fifth on an RBI single from Cameron Calvillo but went on to leave a pair of runners on base.
CSUN picked up another single tally in the seventh via a sacrifice fly from Roberto Gonzalez to bring home Tyler Mejia.
The Anteaters scored three more times in the top of the ninth behind three hits as Alonso Reyes had the big hit of the inning, a two-run single with one out.
NOTES OF THE GAMES
"Reality hurts and it's not our friend right now. Halamicek gave us a good effort in game one and we were again right there with them, but when we couldn't convert a few runs with a runner on third, it took the wind out of our sails. Noah Rinehart had a tough start in game two and couldn't recover. We are not playing confident for nine innings and the difference makers are really struggling. We need to get one this weekend and see where that takes us."
UP NEXT
CSUN concludes its weekend series with UC Irvine on Sunday at 1 p.m. on ESPN+.
#GoMatadors
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GAME 1 RECAP
It would be pitcher's duel in the first third of game one with Halamicek pitching around two hits over three shutout frames. UCI though broke through first in the top of the fourth with a leadoff homer from Jacob McCombs. Halamicek did bounce back to retire the next four batters, giving the CSUN offense a chance to break through.
In the home half of the fourth, the Matadors flexed their muscles with four consecutive hits to start. After a leadoff double from Andrew Becker, Gauna blasted a two-run homer to left to give CSUN the lead. A Linberg single kept the rally alive with Kyle Panganiban bringing in another run on an RBI double for a 3-1 lead.
The lead was short-lived though as the Anteaters broke though in the fifth on a big two-out RBI double from Anthony Martinez that nearly cleared the fence in right center. Moments later, Halamicek escaped further damage by striking out McCombs. The Anteaters were far from done, however, as UCI went ahead in the sixth on an RBI double from Zach Fjelstad. The lead grew to 6-4 on another two-out hit, this time from Blake Penso with a single to right.
The Matador bats would be unable to figure out reliever Rickey Ojeda who blanked the Matadors over the final five innings with CSUN managing two hits. Meanwhile, UCI broke open the game in the late innings, beginning in the eighth when Penso blasted a two-out three-run homer. Colin Yeaman collected a homer of his own in the ninth while Rowan Felsch added two more on a one-out double for the 11-3 victory.
GAME 2 RECAP
UC Irvine took control at the outset of game two and went on to finish with five home runs in the contest.
In the top of the first, Yeaman blasted another two-run homer for an early lead. He would hit his third homer of the day in the second inning as part of a three-run frame. The lead would remain 5-0 until the fourth wihen four more UCI runs came across. Anthony Martinez delivered the big blow, a three-run homer with two outs, which came after a CSUN error earlier in the inning.
UCI would get back-to-back homers in the top of the fifth as Fjelstad and Felsch contributed to a 12-0 lead. After four shutout innings by UCI's Trevor Hansen, the Matadors would finally get on the scoreboard in the home half of the fifth on an RBI single from Cameron Calvillo but went on to leave a pair of runners on base.
CSUN picked up another single tally in the seventh via a sacrifice fly from Roberto Gonzalez to bring home Tyler Mejia.
The Anteaters scored three more times in the top of the ninth behind three hits as Alonso Reyes had the big hit of the inning, a two-run single with one out.
NOTES OF THE GAMES
- CSUN drops to 2-13 overall and 0-5 in Big West play while UC Irvine improves to 13-5 overall and 4-1 in conference.
- Halamicek worked seven-plus innings in game one, allowing six runs on 10 hits.
- Becker had two hits in the opener to go with a run scored and a walk.
- CSUN received 3.1 innings of relief from Jason Davis and Dante Zamudio. Davis allowed four earned runs while Zamudio gave up two earned and three total.
"Reality hurts and it's not our friend right now. Halamicek gave us a good effort in game one and we were again right there with them, but when we couldn't convert a few runs with a runner on third, it took the wind out of our sails. Noah Rinehart had a tough start in game two and couldn't recover. We are not playing confident for nine innings and the difference makers are really struggling. We need to get one this weekend and see where that takes us."
UP NEXT
CSUN concludes its weekend series with UC Irvine on Sunday at 1 p.m. on ESPN+.
#GoMatadors
Â
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Ojeda, Ricky (3-0)
L: Halamicek, Ryan (0-3)
Batting:
2B: Martinez, Anthony 1 ; Call, Chase 2 ; Fjelstad, Zach 1
HR: Yeaman, Colin 1 ; McCombs, Jacob 1 ; Penso, Blake 1
RBI: Yeaman, Colin 1 ; Martinez, Anthony 2 ; McCombs, Jacob 1 ; Felsch, Rowan 2 ; Fjelstad, Zach 1 ; Penso, Blake 4
SH: Call, Chase 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Bermudez, Will 1 ; Yeaman, Colin 2 ; D'Errico, Davis 1 ; McCombs, Jacob 2 ; Call, Chase 2 ; Fjelstad, Zach 1 ; Reyes, Alonso 1 ; Penso, Blake 1
HBP: Martinez, Anthony 1
Batting:
2B: Becker, Andrew 1 ; Panganiban, Kyle 1
HR: Gauna, Andrew 1
RBI: Gauna, Andrew 2 ; Panganiban, Kyle 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Becker, Andrew 1 ; Gauna, Andrew 1 ; Linberg, Will 1
SB: Gonzalez, Roberto 1 ; Boardman, Colton 1 ; Becker, Andrew 1 ; Linberg, Will 1
HBP: Gonzalez, Roberto 1 ; Sanderson, Jarren 1
PO: Fairchild, Elijah 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
2
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