CSUN Drops Series Opener to Bakersfield

Friday, March 27

Northridge, Calif.

5:00 p.m.

California State University at Northridge

14-10, 5-5

Cal State Bakersfield

10-15, 4-6

CSU Bakersfield

CSUN

Photo by: Chuck Marvel

CSUN Drops Series Opener to Bakersfield

3/27/2026 9:02:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Baseball could not overcome an early deficit as the Matadors dropped their series opener to Cal State Bakersfield 11-3 on Friday at Robert J. Hiegert Field. Kyle Panganiban drove in two runs and belted his eighth homer of the season. The Roadrunners scored four in the second inning and put the game out of reach in the middle innings en route to the game one victory.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The 'Runners jumped on starter Gabriel Hernandez with a five-hit second inning in plating their four runs. Five of the first six batters reached to start the inning with Elijah Pelayo, Brendan Thompson and Jacob May picking up RBI hits. Hernandez would retire two of the final three batters of the inning, stranding two runners on the base paths, but the Matadors looked up at a 4-0 deficit.

The Matadors had base runners in each of the first four innings but could not break through against starter Ryan King. The CSUB right hander would go five innings, only allowing one run on five hits.

CSUN fell behind 6-0 after a two-run homer from Elgin Bennett in the top of the fifth. The Matadors would finally get on the scoreboard in the home half of the fifth when Panganiban hit a one-out RBI single. However, CSUN settled for just the one run in the inning as King induced an inning-ending 6-3 double play off the bat of Andrew Becker.

Bakersfield put the game out of reach in the top of the sixth inning with its second four-run frame of the night. The inning began with Hernandez retiring the first two batters, but the next six Roadrunner batters reached safely. Bennett added to his RBI total with a two-run single while Kanoa Morisaki plated two more runs on an infield hit to stretch the lead to 10-1.

The Matadors picked up an RBI single from Matthew Pena in the sixth and a homer from Panganiban in the seventh, but the Roadrunners would not let CSUN get any closer the rest of the way.

NOTES OF THE GAME

CSUN drops to 14-10 overall and 5-5 in Big West play while Cal State Bakersfield improves 10-15 overall and 4-6 in conference.
The Roadrunners outhit the Matadors 14-9.
Each side left eight runners on base.
Will Linberg, Matthew Cormier and Panganiban each finished with two hits.
Pena extended his hit streak to nine games.
The trio of Pena, Linberg and Colton Boardman have now reached in 10 straight games.
Hernandez finished with 5.2 innings pitched and four strikeouts to go with seven runs allowed.
CSUN's Zach Johnson and Gage McCown each pitched shutout frames in relief.

UP NEXT
CSUN continues its weekend series with Cal State Bakersfield on Saturday with first pitch set for 2 p.m. Ghizal Hasan will call the action on ESPN+.

#GoMatadors