CSUN Wraps Up Homestand on Tuesday Against San Diego State

Tuesday, April 21

Northridge, Calif.

5:00 p.m.

California State University at Northridge

San Diego State

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Photo by: Chuck Marvel

CSUN Wraps Up Homestand on Tuesday Against San Diego State

4/20/2026 4:44:00 PM | Baseball

BASE Game Notes - April 20

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Baseball concludes a five-game homestand on Tuesday against San Diego State at 5 p.m. Ghizal Hasan will be on the call in an audio broadcast at GoMatadors.com/Radio.

FOR STARTERS
The Matadors (22-16, 11-10 Big West) are currently 3-1 on their five-game homestand while CSUN has won seven of its last nine games at home. On the season, CSUN is 6-2 in midweek games including post a 3-1 record at Robert J. Hiegert Field this season. CSUN hosts two remaining midweek games this season as the Matadors face Fresno State next Wednesday, April 29 along with California Baptist in two weeks on May 5.

A LOOK AT THE BIG WEST RACE
CSUN enters the week still holding on to the fifth and final postseason spot in the Big West Championship race. At the top of the standings, UC Santa Barbara, Cal Poly and UC San Diego are tied for first place with 12-6 records followed by Cal State Fullerton in fourth place at 11-7. CSUN sits in fifth place at 11-10, just one game ahead of Hawai'i (10-11) and one and a half games ahead of both UC Irvine and UC Riverside at 8-10. Only nine games remain on CSUN's Big West schedule with a pivotal road series at Cal Poly set for this weekend.

ABOUT LAST WEEKEND
CSUN picked up a series victory over UC Davis at Robert J. Hiegert last weekend. The Aggies won the opener 11-3 on Friday before the Matadors evened the series with an 11-2 win in game two and prevailed in the rubber game, 5-3.

Six Matador pitchers combined to hold the Aggies to two runs on seven hits on Saturday while CSUN used six pitchers to limit the Aggies to three runs on six hits in Sunday's victory. Traig Oughton (4-0) tossed 3.2 innings of relief, allowing just a run to win game two and Lucas Alaniz earned his first win of the season in game three with 2.2 innings of work. Freshman James Voorhies nailed down the save in the finale with two dominant innings, striking out four batters.

On the hitting side, freshman Vaughn Coleman belted a grand slam in the 11-2 victory while Andrew Becker was an offensive threat all weekend, producing six total hits as he extended his season-high hit streak to 17 games.

LEADING THE BIG WEST
CSUN's offense continues to be one of the most explosive in the Big West this season as the Matadors top the conference in runs scored (261). The team is 25th in the nation in slugging (.509) and 38th in home runs (57) entering the week while CSUN also tops the Big West in triples (11), RBI (247), total bases (655) and on-base percentage (.383). The Matador lineup is also hitting at a .298 clip, second only to Cal Poly (.303).

Individually, Andrew Becker has moved to the top of the Big West's batting list, posting a .370 average. Other conference leaders include Matthew Thomas, who is first in OPS (1.225), runs scored (41) and slugging percentage (.778). Matthew Pena and Thomas share the conference's top spot in home runs with 13 each while Pena is first in RBI with 40.

ON THE MOUND
Sophomore Gabriel Hernandez will make his team-leading 11th start of the season on Tuesday against San Diego State. Hernandez sports a 4-3 record with a 5.17 ERA and 33 strikeouts on the season. The right hander has opened the past five series on the mound for CSUN while he has produced quality starts in four of his last six starts.

MATADOR QUICK HITS
Behind Andrew Becker, two other Matadors are ranked in Big West's top-10 batting list as Matthew Thomas is fourth (.368) and Mateo Rickman is ninth (.330) ... Matthew Thomas enters the week ranked 16th in the nation in slugging percentage (.778) along with 22nd in total bases (112) ... sophomore third baseman Kyle Panganiban returned to the Matador lineup last Friday after missing nine straight games with injury. Panganiban picked up a pair of hits in the UC Davis series while he sports a season .313 batting average with eight homers and 28 RBI entering the week ... As a team, CSUN is hitting .307 in 21 Big West games with 24 home runs as a group ... Matador pitching is now ranked seventh in the nation in walks allowed per nine innings at a 3.16 clip. That average is second best in the Big West ... Junior right hander Jaiden Turner has been one of the top arms out of the bullpen this season. Turner sports a minuscule 1.56 ERA across 16 appearances while racking up 18 strikeouts in 17.1 innings. He also holds a 2.35 ERA in 7.2 innings of conference play.

SCOUTING SAN DIEGO STATE
The Aztecs come in with 22-18 overall record and winners of three straight games. San Diego collected a Monday victory over Seattle U by a 9-5 score. The team has gone 5-2 against Big West teams this season, highlighted by a combined no-hitter against UC Riverside on April 7. The Aztecs sport the top earned run average in the Mountain West at 5.49 while the staff is also first in WHIP (1.43). On the hitting side, SDSU is hitting at a .279 clip, led by Tyce Peterson with a .329 batting average. Peterson also leads the Aztecs with 10 homers and 35 RBI.

Series History: The Aztecs lead the Matadors 47-45 in the all-time series, but CSUN has won five straight meetings. Last season, the Matadors prevailed in San Diego by an 8-3 score.

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