CSUN Drops 3-1 Decision at UC Riverside

Friday, April 10

Riverside, Calif.

2:00 p.m.

California State University at Northridge

19-14, 9-8

UC Riverside

9-24, 4-10

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
CSUN	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	9	1
UC Riverside	0	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	X	3	8	0

Photo by: Chuck Marvel

CSUN Drops 3-1 Decision at UC Riverside

4/10/2026 4:41:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

RIVERSIDE, Calif.---CSUN Baseball suffered a 3-1 setback to UC Riverside in the middle game of its weekend series on Friday at Riverside Sports Complex. The Matadors would threaten to score in nearly every single inning on the afternoon, but the Highlanders' Matthew O'Brien found a way to keep CSUN at bay in the contest.

The trio of Matthew Thomas, Vaughn Coleman and Cameron Calvillo had two hits each while Lucas Alaniz worked 5.1 innings out of the bullpen, striking out three and allowing three runs.

HOW IT HAPPENED
CSUN would be retired in order in just one inning against UCR pitching, however, the Highlanders picked up timely outs in crucial situations on Friday.

The Matadors left a runner in scoring position in the top of the first while UCR's starter, O'Brien, stranded two on the base paths in a scoreless top of the fourth. The UCR southpaw went on to strand two more runners in the fifth, retiring back-to-back Matador hitters to squash the threat.

Meanwhile, Charles Rogers earned the spot start for CSUN, needing only five pitches to get through a scoreless first inning. From there, CSUN turned to Alaniz who worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the second before running into trouble in the third. UCR picked up four singles in the third inning against Alaniz with David Gibbs and Robert Pitts collecting RBI singles for a 2-0 Highlander lead.

Alaniz wound up stranding runners at the corners in the third inning before finding his groove on the mound. Beginning with his out to end the third, Alaniz completed a string of eight straight Highlanders retired. That streak ended with one out in the sixth, but Alaniz went on to sit down Jarren Sanderson and Andrew Rivas consecutively, keeping the score at 2-0.

CSUN finally broke through against O'Brien in the sixth, capitalizing on singles from Mateo Rickman and Matthew Pena to begin the inning. O'Brien would retire Coleman on a popout, but Trent Abel followed with a sacrifice fly to left to get CSUN on the scoreboard and within 2-1.

The Matadors threatened once more against O'Brien in the top of the seventh after Thomas and Colton Boardman drew one-out walks. O'Brien though again escaped danger by retiring both Andrew Becker and Rickman on flyouts.

UCR pushed across an insurance run in the home half of the seventh, benefiting off an Alaniz throwing error when he tried to double up Manoah Chapman on a popout at first. The costly error allowed Chapman to reach third base and Miles Scott followed with an RBI groundout to push the lead to 3-1.

CSUN forged one last rally in the top of the ninth, picking up back-to-back one-out hits from Calvillo and Thomas. However, reliever Jaxon Byrd came out of the bullpen and induced a 5-3 double play off the bat of Boardman to end the game.

NOTES OF THE GAME

CSUN drops to 19-14 overall and 9-8 in Big West play while UC Riverside improves to 9-24 overall and 4-10 in conference.
The Matadors outhit the Highlanders 9-8. However, CSUN left 10 base runners while UCR left just four.
Thomas recorded his team-best 13th multiple-hit game. He has reached safely in 15 straight games.
Boardman reached on a walk to extend his on-base streak to 18 games.
Becker, who went 1-for-4, stretched his hit streak to 12.
Logan Miller recorded two outs in the seventh with one hit allowed while Jaiden Turner tossed the bottom of the eighth with a hit allowed.
O'Brien logged 7.1 innings, allowing one run while striking out six to earn the victory for UCR.