Offense Powers CSUN to Sweep of Seattle U

Sunday, February 15

Northridge, Calif.

1:00 p.m.

California State University at Northridge

3-0

Seattle U

0-3

Seattle U

CSUN

Photo by: Bella A Enriquez

Offense Powers CSUN to Sweep of Seattle U

2/15/2026 4:59:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---Matthew Pena homered twice and drove in seven runs as CSUN Baseball completed a season-opening series sweep of Seattle U with a 15-6 win on Sunday at Robert J. Hiegert Field. Vaughn Coleman finished 3-for-6 with an RBI while three other Matadors had multi-hit efforts. On the mound, Gabriel Hernandez tossed five solid innings, scattering two runs on three hits with three strikeouts.

The Matadors scored multiple times in four different innings, highlighted by a six-run bottom of the second.

HOW IT HAPPENED
In similar fashion to the first two games of the series, CSUN leaned on the long ball to take an early lead against Seattle U. In the bottom of the first, the first two batters were retired, but Kyle Panganiban and Matthew Thomas each drew walks to bring Pena to the plate. On an 0-1 count, the CSUN first baseman would hammer a three-run homer to left center for a 3-0 lead.

Peña does it again!

For the second straight day, he launches a first inning home run. This time it's a 3-run shot to score Panganiban and Thomas.#GoMatadors pic.twitter.com/IRbQ73YRQt
— CSUN Baseball (@CSUNBaseball) February 15, 2026

The big inning of the day would come in the home half of the second where 10 batters came to the plate. Coleman and Panganiban each collected RBI singles while Thomas roped an RBI double in the left corner to score another. CSUN would take advantage of two Seattle U throwing errors in the inning to eventually score six times as Trent Abel capped the scoring spree with a sacrifice fly for a 9-0 lead.

On the pitching side, Hernandez made his first appearance for CSUN since March 2025. Early on, he benefited from a 4-3 double play in a shutout first while he induced three groundouts in the second. The only blemish against Hernandez came in the top of the third where the Redhawks plated two runs on three hits. However, Hernandez bounced back to retire seven of eight batters as he induced another double play to end the top of the fifth.

Gabe Hernandez having a solid day:

4.0 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 3 K#GoMatadors pic.twitter.com/pAuZ4yLdtB
— CSUN Baseball (@CSUNBaseball) February 15, 2026

CSUN stretched its lead to 14-2 in the sixth behind another three-run blast from Pena while one more run scored on a two-out RBI single from Xavier Rios. Pena added to his RBI total in the bottom of the seventh when he drove in Will Linberg on a sacrifice fly for a 15-3 lead.

The Matador bullpen took over in the sixth as Jackson Banuelos tossed a shutout inning with just a hit allowed. Seattle U pushed across a single tally in the seventh, two in the eighth and one more in the ninth but it was not nearly enough to close the gap.

NOTES OF THE GAME

CSUN improved to 3-0 on the season for the first time since the 2023 campaign.
Pena became the first Matador since Justin Toerner in 2018 to record at least seven RBI in a game. He has homered three times this season and in back-to-back games.
Thomas finished with three runs scored and two doubles.
Freshman Mateo Rickman went 2-for-5 with two runs scored in his Matador debut.
Panganiban scored three times and drove in a run.
Both newcomers, Coleman and Thomas each hit safely in all three games of the weekend series.
Charles Rogers made his CSUN debut out of bullpen in the seventh. He finished with two innings pitched and three runs allowed.

ACCORDING TO COACH EDDIE CORNEJO
"I think a lot has to be said for our offense really early. It gives us a little bit of breathing room. For me, a big momentum swing was that double play in the first inning when they had runners on and that allowed Hernandez to settle in. Really good effort by Hernandez to get us a good start. I like our offensive prowess a little bit better today than the past couple of days. Still a lot of things to clean up, but I was content with how they responded.

On the series sweep
"Offensively we are swinging the bats decently well. I would've liked to showcase a little bit of our skill game. The pitching was a big question mark because a majority are new, so overall a good start. Still more to work on. If we are going to beat good teams in the Big West, we're going to have to be better all the way around."

UP NEXT
Weather permitting, CSUN will host Portland on Wednesday at Robert J. Hiegert Field. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. with Ghizal Hasan on the call in an audio only broadcast at GoMatadors.com/Radio. Stay tuned to GoMatadors.com for further updates about the game.

#GoMatadors

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Thursday, February 12

CSUN to Honor Bob Hiegert with Memorial Game on Feb. 13

Wednesday, February 04

Next Event

Portland

Feb 18 (Wed)

3:00 p.m.

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Team Stats

Pitching:

W: Hernandez, Gabriel (1-0)

L: Hagler, Micah (0-1)

Seattle U

Batting:

2B: Rhein, Kenny 1 ; Stevenson, Jared 1

HR: Beauchaine, Jake 1

RBI: Rhein, Kenny 1 ; Carlson, Hayden 1 ; Horner, Tyler 1 ; Beauchaine, Jake 2 ; Stevenson, Jared 1

Base Running:

RUNS: Knowles, Payton 1 ; Horner, Tyler 1 ; Beauchaine, Jake 1 ; Stinnett, Brandon 1 ; Lopez, Sebastian 1 ; Stevenson, Jared 1

HBP: Rhein, Kenny 1

CSUN

Batting:

2B: Coleman, Vaughn 2 ; Thomas, Matthew 2

3B: Rickman, Mateo 1

HR: Pena, Matthew 2

RBI: Coleman, Vaughn 1 ; Panganiban, Kyle 1 ; Thomas, Matthew 1 ; Pena, Matthew 7 ; Abel, Trent 1 ; Rios, Xavier 1

SH: Saito, Evan 1

SF: Pena, Matthew 1 ; Abel, Trent 1

Base Running:

RUNS: Coleman, Vaughn 1 ; Linberg, Will 2 ; Panganiban, Kyle 3 ; Thomas, Matthew 3 ; Pena, Matthew 2 ; Abel, Trent 1 ; Rickman, Mateo 2 ; Rios, Xavier 1