CSUN Visits Fresno State in Midweek Action

Tuesday, March 17

Fresno, Calif.

6:05 p.m.

California State University at Northridge

Fresno State

Photo by: Chuck Marvel

CSUN Visits Fresno State in Midweek Action

3/16/2026 4:42:00 PM | Baseball

BASE Game Notes - March 16

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Baseball opens a four-game road week at Fresno State on Tuesday evening. First pitch is set for 6:05 p.m. on the Mountain West Network.

FOR STARTERS
The Matadors look to get back on the winning track after coming up empty three times to UC San Diego this past weekend. CSUN has gone 3-1 in midweek games so far this season including winning the past three. This week's road games include a Big West series against Cal State Fullerton, beginning Friday night at Goodwin Field.

After this week's games, CSUN will play seven of its next eight games at Robert J. Hiegert Field, which includes home series with Cal State Bakersfield (March 27-29) and Long Beach State (April 2-4).

PITCHING FOR CSUN...
Freshman left hander Jack Jones will make his first career start on Tuesday against Fresno State. Jones sports a 10.80 ERA across four relief appearances while totaling seven strikeouts in 6.2 total innings. On the season, Jones' longest outing was 4.1 innings against Portland where he allowed four runs and struck out four.

ABOUT LAST WEEKEND
CSUN dropped its first series of the conference season as UC San Diego completed a three-game sweep in Northridge. In the opener, the Matadors rallied from a 10-1 deficit, tying the game in the eighth inning only to fall by a 17-16 score. UCSD would take the series last Saturday, scoring three times in the eighth inning to break a 2-2 tie for an eventual 6-4 victory. The Tritons then completed the sweep in the finale, scoring in seven of nine innings en route to a 12-4 win.

Colton Boardman finished with six hits in the series including collecting three doubles in the opener. Matthew Pena homered three times in the series with two coming in game one while Vaughn Coleman and Matthew Cormier clubbed their respective first career home runs. On the mound, Gabriel Hernandez was the standout of the weekend, tossing a career-high 7.1 innings with two runs allowed on eight hits to go with three strikeouts.

PENA GOES DEEP
With his nine home runs this season, junior outfielder Matthew Pena has already set a new career high for homers in his collegiate career, surpassing his six from 2025. Pena has homered three times over the past three games while he has recorded multi-homer games already three times this season. His nine homers lead the Big West and rank 20th overall in the nation. Entering this week's games, Pena tops the Big West in OPS (1.325) and slugging percentage (.879).

GOING FOR EXTRA CREDIT
When junior outfielder Matthew Thomas connects on a base hit, more often than not it will go for extra bases. Of his 22 total hits this year, Thomas has recorded 19 extra base hits including eight homers and eight doubles. In the Big West, Thomas leads the league in runs scored (23) while he ranks second in homers (8) and slugging percentage (.845) and third in OPS (1.257). Thomas has hit safely in 15 games on the year and posted seven multi-hit efforts.

MATADOR QUICK HITS
CSUN's offense is near the top of multiple categories in the Big West entering the week including ranking first in runs (130), RBI (120), homers (32), triples (8) and slugging percentage (.506). Sophomore Kyle Panganiban tops the team in RBI with 22, which is seven short of his entire total from last season. Panganiban is also slashing .271/.400/.571 to go with six home runs ... Sophomore Colton Boardman sports a team-high .386 batting average with 17 hits and five RBI. Three other Matador hitters are batting above .300, which includes Mateo Rickman (.317), Matthew Pena (.310) and Matthew Thomas (.310) ... Freshman right handed closer James Voorhies has emerged as one of the top pitchers on the staff this season. With a team-high 19 strikeouts, Voorhies has posted a 2.51 ERA with two wins and two saves. Opposing hitters have managed just a .200 average against Voorhies.

SCOUTING FRESNO STATE
The Bulldogs are 7-11 on the season. Last weekend, Fresno State suffered a three-game sweep to Nevada, pushing its losing streak to seven. Prior to that streak, the Bulldogs had won seven of nine including taking a series from Stanford. As a team, Fresno State is second in the Mountain West in stolen bases with 28 while the squad is batting .277 as a group. Mikey Boyd leads the team in batting at .382 to go with 16 RBI. Griffen Sotomayer is the team's leader in homers with three while he has 15 RBI. As a pitching staff, the Bulldogs sport a 6.52 ERA.

Series History: The Bulldogs lead the Matadors 58-29 in the all-time series. Over the past eight seasons, the teams have played just four times with each side winning twice. CSUN came away with a 15-2 victory two seasons ago in Fresno.

#GoMatadors