California State University at Northridge
7-20, 3-12
Cal State Fullerton
17-15, 9-6
CSUN's Rally Falls Just Short in Series Finale with Cal State Fullerton
4/6/2025 4:11:00 PM | Baseball
HOW IT HAPPENED
CSUN would fall behind early in the second inning. Freshman right hander Max Mendes issued two walks to begin the frame before Marcos Rosales drove in both runs on a triple. Two batters later, Carter Johnstone belted a two-run homer to left field to open up a 4-0 lead.
The Matadors though showed fight all game long, and in the bottom of the second inning they had a quick response. CSUN collected one-out singles from Calvillo and Matthew Pena in the frame, while an error on a throw to third base on the Pena hit allowed a run to score. Gauna followed with a grounder to short, but heads up base running from Pena at third forced an errant throw at the plate, cutting the lead to 4-2.
Both teams would lean on the long ball in the third inning. Andrew Kirchner roped a leadoff homer in the top half of the inning while CSUN countered with solo homers from Panganiban and Sanderson in the home half to cut the deficit to 5-4.
Fullerton, however, continued to gain key hits with two outs to expand its lead. In the top of the fourth, Johnstone hammered his second homer of the day, as his two-run shot made it 7-4. Mendes though bounced back to retire six of the next batters, highlighted by a 1-2-3 top of the sixth to help keep the Matadors within striking distance.
CSUN inched closer in the bottom of the sixth on a solo homer from Gauna, but the Titans gained yet another home run from Johnstone who extended the lead to 9-5 on a two-run homer in the seventh.
A Max Ortega home run in the eighth put CSUN in a 10-5 hole, but the Matadors would continue to keep battling. In the eighth, CSUN picked up a pinch-hit RBI single from Angel Cortez while Trent Abel hit a sacrifice fly to center field, trimming the deficit to 10-7.
In the bottom of the ninth, Sanderson rifled a double to left field while Calvillo came away with a two-out RBI single, bringing CSUN closer at 10-8. The Matadors turned to the bench once more and Royce Clayton, Jr. stepped to the plate representing the tying run. A comeback though was not in the cards, as closer Andrew Wright struck out Clayton to end the game.
NOTES OF THE GAME
- CSUN slips to 7-20 overall and 3-12 in Big West play while Cal State Fullerton improves to 17-15 overall and 9-6 in conference
- Mendes finished with six innings pitched and seven runs allowed to go with three strikeouts.
- Relievers Nicholas Santivanez and Kody King tossed shutout frames each.
- Abel extended his hit streak to a team-best 10 games after going 1-for-4 at the plate.
- Pena has reached base safely in nine in a row.
UP NEXT
CSUN hits the road next week for a Tuesday afternoon non-conference game against Arizona State. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.
#GoMatadors
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Dockan, Brady (1-0)
L: Mendes, Max (2-1)
S: Wright, Andrew (5)
Batting:
2B: Rosales, Marcos 1
3B: Rosales, Marcos 1
HR: Johnstone, Carter 3 ; Kirchner, Andrew 1 ; Ortega, Max 1
RBI: Johnstone, Carter 6 ; Kirchner, Andrew 1 ; Ortega, Max 1 ; Rosales, Marcos 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Johnstone, Carter 3 ; Kirchner, Andrew 1 ; Ortega, Max 2 ; Lopez, Eli 1 ; Rosales, Marcos 2 ; Burdick, Cam 1
CS: Ortega, Max 1
Batting:
2B: Panganiban, Kyle 1 ; Sanderson, Jarren 1
HR: Panganiban, Kyle 1 ; Sanderson, Jarren 1 ; Gauna, Andrew 1
RBI: Abel, Trent 1 ; Panganiban, Kyle 1 ; Sanderson, Jarren 1 ; Calvillo, Cameron 1 ; Gauna, Andrew 2 ; Cortez, Angel 1
SH: Calvillo, Cameron 1
SF: Abel, Trent 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Panganiban, Kyle 1 ; Sanderson, Jarren 2 ; Calvillo, Cameron 2 ; Pena, Matthew 1 ; Gauna, Andrew 2
