CSUN Meets Pepperdine on Tuesday in Malibu

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Baseball makes the trip to Malibu to take on Pepperdine in a midweek matchup on Tuesday afternoon. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. on ESPN+.

FOR STARTERS
The Matadors (15-11, 6-6 Big West) are playing Pepperdine for the second of three midweek contests this season. CSUN, which took the first meeting on March 9 in Northridge, will host Pepperdine for the final time this season next Tuesday, April 7 at Robert J. Hiegert Field.

Later this week, CSUN returns to Big West action with a three-game series against Long Beach State at home. The opener is set for Thursday at 5 p.m. with the rest of the series scheduled for Friday at 2 p.m. and Saturday at 1 p.m.

ABOUT LAST WEEKEND
CSUN dropped two of three games to Cal State Bakersfield last weekend at Robert J. Hiegert Field. The Roadrunners took game one by an 11-3 score and won in 10 innings in game two, 8-6. CSUN would erase a six-run deficit in the game two loss before CSUB pushed across two runs with two outs in the top of the 10th inning.

The Matadors would salvage the series finale, winning on Sunday 9-5. Freshman Vaughn Coleman broke a 5-5 tie in the bottom of the fourth with a solo home run while CSUN added two in the sixth and one in the eighth inning. Adam Christopher tossed the final 5.1 innings out of the bullpen, allowing no runs and just three hits to go with a season-high six strikeouts.

HOME RUN HITTERS
CSUN enters the week leading the Big West and ranking 23rd overall in the nation in total home runs with 45 this season. That home run total is just four fewer than the team's entire total from the 2025 season. Three Matadors are ranked in the top four in the Big West led by Matthew Pena who is first with 10 on the season. Matthew Thomas is right behind, tied for second place with nine while Kyle Panganiban is fourth with eight homers. In total, 11 Matadors have at least one home run with nine recording two or more.

MATADOR QUICK HITS
The Matadors remain the Big West leaders in several offensive categories including RBI (164), total bases (451) and slugging percentage (.516) while they rank second in batting average (.284), runs scored (174), base hits (248) and triples (10) ... In addition to home runs, junior Matthew Pena is first in the Big West in OPS (1.240) and slugging percentage (.800). The first baseman has also driven in the third-most RBI in the league with 28 ... Newcomer Matthew Thomas has recorded 30 hits this season, 23 of which have gone for extra base hits. Thomas shares the Big West lead in runs scored (28) while he is second in OPS (1.190) and slugging percentage (.779) ... Sophomore Colton Boardman is off to a strong start in his second season with CSUN as he leads the team in batting at a .379 clip, good enough for third-best in the Big West. Boardman has already surpassed his entire hit total from last season (24) by recording 25 this year ... Right hander Gabriel Hernandez has taken over Friday starting duties for CSUN as late. Hernandez (2-2) sports a 4.93 ERA with 24 strikeouts across seven starts in 2026, however, he has lowered his ERA to 3.55 in Big West play with 19 strikeouts in 25.1 total innings in conference.

SCOUTING PEPPERDINE
The Waves are 8-19 on the season but winners of four of the last six games. This past weekend, Pepperdine took two of three games from San Diego at home to improve to 4-2 in West Coast Conference play. The team is 5-9 overall at Eddy D. Field Stadium. As a team, the Waves are batting .246 to rank eighth in the WCC while the team is sixth in earned run average at 6.45. James Dell'Amico leads the team with a .310 batting average followed by Daniel Patterson at a .304 clip. Patterson has smacked a team-high seven home runs and driven in 18 runs. Out of the bullpen, Lucien Wechsberg sports a 1.35 ERA with three saves and 14 strikeouts.

Series History: CSUN took a 50-49-2 all-time series lead with Pepperdine after winning 12-1 in seven innings on March 9 in Northridge. Kyle Panganiban hit a grand slam in the victory while CSUN scored seven runs in the fifth inning to put the game out of reach. The Matadors have won three straight games in the series.

#GoMatadors

CSUN Meets Pepperdine on Tuesday in Malibu

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Players Mentioned

Colton Boardman

Adam Christopher

Vaughn Coleman

Gabriel Hernandez

Kyle Panganiban

Matthew Pena

Matthew Thomas

California State University Northridge Athletics