CSUN Falls in Series Opener to UC Davis

Friday, April 17

Northridge, Calif.

5:00 p.m.

California State University at Northridge

20-16, 9-10

UC Davis

17-18, 8-11

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
UC Davis	3	0	3	4	0	1	0	0	0	11	14	0
CSUN	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	3	9	0

Photo by: Chuck Marvel

CSUN Falls in Series Opener to UC Davis

4/17/2026 8:13:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Baseball dug an early hole and could not recover as the Matadors fell to UC Davis 11-3 in the opener of the weekend series on Friday at Robert J. Hiegert Field. Will Linberg finished 3-for-3 at the plate with a pair of double and an RBI while Vaughn Coleman picked up two hits with one RBI.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Aggies would jump on the Matadors at the outset and never look back on Friday. It would take only four pitches before the Aggies scored the game's first run as back-to-back doubles from Braydon Wooldridge and Tyler Howard to start made it a 1-0 game. From there, Korey Williams added to the lead with an RBI single and Kai Mault later pushed across a third run with a groundout to the right side.

CSUN's Gabriel Hernandez bounced back from the rough start to retire the side in order in the second inning, but the Aggies went back on the attack in the top of the third, producing four more hits. Williams would deliver a two-run homer in the third while Mault made it a 7-0 game with a solo homer to left, which knocked Hernandez out of the game.

The Aggies though were far from done. In the fourth, eight batters came to the plate in a four-run frame, highlighted by a two-run homer from Wooldridge. Ethan Felix and Mault added RBI hits in the fourth inning to push the lead to 10-0. Later in the sixth, Mault drove in his fourth run of the night with a two-out RBI single.

On the flip side, the Matadors were kept at bay at the plate by stingy pitching and defense. Coleman led off the first inning with a single off starter Keenan Anzai, but a double play soon followed. CSUN would leave two runners on the base paths in the second inning while a 6-3 double play extinguished a leadoff single in the third.

Anzai went on to strand a runner in both the fifth and sixth innings before the Matadors finally broke through in the bottom of the seventh on back-to-back doubles from Linberg and Coleman.

CSUN trailed 11-1 in the bottom of the ninth but kept battling until the final out. Consecutive doubles from Colton Boardman and Jehee Lee produced another CSUN run. Two batters later, Linberg pulled CSUN to within 11-3 on a sacrifice fly. However, the Matadors would not get any closer as Coleman grounded out to end the ballgame.

NOTES OF THE GAME

CSUN drops to 20-16 overall and 9-10 in Big West play while UC Davis improves to 17-18 overall and 8-11 in conference.
The Aggies also led 14-9 in base hits.
Andrew Becker extended his hit streak to 15 games after a 1-for-3 day at the plate.
Boardman, who went 1-for-3, stretched his on base streak to 21 games.
Kyle Panganiban made his return to the field after missing the past nine games with injury. He would reach base twice with a walk and a hit-by-pitch.
Out of the bullpen, CSUN's trio of Jack Jones, Gage McCown and Cody Carson combined to shut out the Aggies over the last three innings.
For the Aggies, Howard went 5-for-5 at the plate with four runs scored. Anzai picked up the win on the mound with seven quality innings, allowing one run on seven hits.

UP NEXT
CSUN and UC Davis continue their weekend series on Saturday with first pitch set for 2 p.m. on ESPN+ with Ghizal Hasan on the call.

#GoMatadors