Friday, April 4
Northridge, Calif.
5:30 p.m.
California State University at Northridge
vs
Cal State Fullerton
Photo by: Chuck Marvel
CSUN Opens Up Weekend Series with Fullerton on Friday
4/3/2025 3:10:00 PM | Baseball
GAME NOTES
NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Baseball kicks off a weekend series at Robert J. Hiegert Field on Friday against Cal State Fullerton at 5:30 p.m. The series continues on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. before concluding on Sunday at 1 p.m. The final two games of the series will be broadcast on ESPN+ while all three games will have live audio available at GoMatadors.com/Radio with Ghizal Hasan on the call.
LAST TIME OUT
CSUN made the trip to Northern California earlier this week and came away with an 11-2 victory over the University of San Francisco on Wednesday. The Matadors racked up 14 hits in the win and used a nine-run top of the second inning to open an early 10-0 lead. CSUN would allow just two runs in the fourth inning in collecting the win. Matthew Pena blasted his team-leading fifth home run of the season in the nine-run scoring spree while he finished with three RBI for the day. Cameron Calvillo and Jarren Sanderson drove in two runs apiece in the victory and Will Linberg had three hits.
PITCHING SHINES AT SAN FRANCISCO
Junior right hander Hayden Hall made his first career start with CSUN in the win and tossed two shutout innings, striking out three total batters. After the second, the Matador bullpen consisting of Jason Davis, Blake Ignaciak, Noah Rinehart, Jackson Banuelos and Nicholas Santivanez combined to toss the final seven innings, allowing two runs on five hits. Rinehart was one of the standouts on the day, pitching two spotless innings and striking out two batters.
MATADOR LEADERS
CSUN's freshman Andrew Becker remains the team leader in batting average at .329 while he ranks second in runs (16) and hits (26) and third in RBI (13). Another freshman, Kyle Panganiban is the team leader in base hits with 29, runs scored with 18 and doubles with six to go with two homers and 14 RBI. In the middle of the lineup, sophomore Matthew Pena has a team-leading five homers, 18 RBI and .500 slugging percentage. Also hitting above the .300 mark this season are Will Linberg (.321) and Roberto Gonzalez (.307),
On the pitching side, sophomore Ryan Halamicek will get the ball on Friday against Cal State Fullerton. Halamicek sports a team-best 32 strikeouts over 37.2 innings to go with a 1-3 record. Making the start on Saturday, junior Diego Gutierrez is a close second on the team in strikeouts with 30 while the right hander has a 2-2 record and a 6.38 ERA. Freshman Max Mendes, who holds a 2-0 record, has registered a 4.29 ERA and 16 strikeouts over 10 appearances.
WHO'S HOT?
Freshman Kyle Panganiban enters the weekend with an 11-game on-base streak where he has risen his batting average from .208 to .309. Sophomore Trent Abel sports a season-high seven game hit streak, two off the pace of the team-high nine game streak set by Andrew Becker in March. Abel has three multi-hit games during his hit streak while he has improved his season batting average from .125 to .357 over that span. Max Mendes has earned a spot in the weekend rotation as of late with the freshman starting the past two weekends. Mendes has charted a 3.29 ERA as a starter in 2025.
SCOUTING CAL STATE FULLERTON
The Titans are 14-15 on the season with a 6-6 Big West record. Fullerton has won nine of its last 11 games and coming off back-to-back series wins over UC RIverside and Cal State Bakersfield. Earlier this week, Fullerton lost to Arizona State 14-4 before picking up a 4-2 win over Grand Canyon. Away from Goodwin Field, the Titans are an even 7-7 on the year. In the Big West, Fullerton ranks second in doubles (67) and RBI (185) and third in slugging percentage (.460). Maddox Latta comes in fourth in the Big West in batting average at a .400 clip while he is second in stolen bases (11) and tied for fourth in runs scored (31). The Titans' Andrew Kirchner is also second in the conference with 11 doubles and ranked third with a team-high 36 RBI. In the home run department, Matthew Bardowell has a team-best five to go with 30 RBI and a .379 batting average. Left hander Mikiah Negrete has stuck out a staff-best 41 batters and posted a 4.62 ERA.
Series History: The Titans lead the Matadors 82-60 in the all-time series. Winners of six of the last eight in the series, CSUN swept Fullerton last season at Goodwin Field. To date, CSUN has never won a three-game home series with Cal State Fullerton in team history.
#GoMatadors
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NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Baseball kicks off a weekend series at Robert J. Hiegert Field on Friday against Cal State Fullerton at 5:30 p.m. The series continues on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. before concluding on Sunday at 1 p.m. The final two games of the series will be broadcast on ESPN+ while all three games will have live audio available at GoMatadors.com/Radio with Ghizal Hasan on the call.
LAST TIME OUT
CSUN made the trip to Northern California earlier this week and came away with an 11-2 victory over the University of San Francisco on Wednesday. The Matadors racked up 14 hits in the win and used a nine-run top of the second inning to open an early 10-0 lead. CSUN would allow just two runs in the fourth inning in collecting the win. Matthew Pena blasted his team-leading fifth home run of the season in the nine-run scoring spree while he finished with three RBI for the day. Cameron Calvillo and Jarren Sanderson drove in two runs apiece in the victory and Will Linberg had three hits.
PITCHING SHINES AT SAN FRANCISCO
Junior right hander Hayden Hall made his first career start with CSUN in the win and tossed two shutout innings, striking out three total batters. After the second, the Matador bullpen consisting of Jason Davis, Blake Ignaciak, Noah Rinehart, Jackson Banuelos and Nicholas Santivanez combined to toss the final seven innings, allowing two runs on five hits. Rinehart was one of the standouts on the day, pitching two spotless innings and striking out two batters.
MATADOR LEADERS
CSUN's freshman Andrew Becker remains the team leader in batting average at .329 while he ranks second in runs (16) and hits (26) and third in RBI (13). Another freshman, Kyle Panganiban is the team leader in base hits with 29, runs scored with 18 and doubles with six to go with two homers and 14 RBI. In the middle of the lineup, sophomore Matthew Pena has a team-leading five homers, 18 RBI and .500 slugging percentage. Also hitting above the .300 mark this season are Will Linberg (.321) and Roberto Gonzalez (.307),
On the pitching side, sophomore Ryan Halamicek will get the ball on Friday against Cal State Fullerton. Halamicek sports a team-best 32 strikeouts over 37.2 innings to go with a 1-3 record. Making the start on Saturday, junior Diego Gutierrez is a close second on the team in strikeouts with 30 while the right hander has a 2-2 record and a 6.38 ERA. Freshman Max Mendes, who holds a 2-0 record, has registered a 4.29 ERA and 16 strikeouts over 10 appearances.
WHO'S HOT?
Freshman Kyle Panganiban enters the weekend with an 11-game on-base streak where he has risen his batting average from .208 to .309. Sophomore Trent Abel sports a season-high seven game hit streak, two off the pace of the team-high nine game streak set by Andrew Becker in March. Abel has three multi-hit games during his hit streak while he has improved his season batting average from .125 to .357 over that span. Max Mendes has earned a spot in the weekend rotation as of late with the freshman starting the past two weekends. Mendes has charted a 3.29 ERA as a starter in 2025.
SCOUTING CAL STATE FULLERTON
The Titans are 14-15 on the season with a 6-6 Big West record. Fullerton has won nine of its last 11 games and coming off back-to-back series wins over UC RIverside and Cal State Bakersfield. Earlier this week, Fullerton lost to Arizona State 14-4 before picking up a 4-2 win over Grand Canyon. Away from Goodwin Field, the Titans are an even 7-7 on the year. In the Big West, Fullerton ranks second in doubles (67) and RBI (185) and third in slugging percentage (.460). Maddox Latta comes in fourth in the Big West in batting average at a .400 clip while he is second in stolen bases (11) and tied for fourth in runs scored (31). The Titans' Andrew Kirchner is also second in the conference with 11 doubles and ranked third with a team-high 36 RBI. In the home run department, Matthew Bardowell has a team-best five to go with 30 RBI and a .379 batting average. Left hander Mikiah Negrete has stuck out a staff-best 41 batters and posted a 4.62 ERA.
Series History: The Titans lead the Matadors 82-60 in the all-time series. Winners of six of the last eight in the series, CSUN swept Fullerton last season at Goodwin Field. To date, CSUN has never won a three-game home series with Cal State Fullerton in team history.
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