CSUN Drops Series Opener to Cal Poly, 8-5

Friday, April 24

San Luis Obispo, Calif.

6:00 p.m.

California State University at Northridge

22-18, 11-11

Cal Poly

22-18, 13-6

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
CSUN	0	2	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	5	9	0
Cal Poly	1	2	1	0	0	2	2	0	X	8	15	1

Photo by: Chuck Marvel

CSUN Drops Series Opener to Cal Poly, 8-5

4/24/2026 10:48:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif.---CSUN Baseball suffered an 8-5 defeat to Cal Poly in the opener of a three-game weekend series on Friday at Robert J. Hiegert Field. Both Matthew Pena and Matthew Cormier homered for the Matadors while Will Linberg reached three times and had two hits. The Mustangs scored four runs late in the contest, breaking a 4-4 tie en route to a series-opening victory.

HOW IT HAPPENED
In a battle between the top two hitting teams in the Big West, each side traded runs over the early innings on Friday. Cal Poly jumped on starter Gabriel Hernandez in the first inning, collecting singles from three of its first four batters to go ahead 1-0. CSUN though responded quickly in the top of the second when Matthew Thomas led off with a double and Pena followed with a two-run homer to center field.

The Matadors' 2-1 lead though was short-lived, as the Mustangs pushed across two runs of their own in the bottom of the second. Gavin Spiridonoff tied the game up with an RBI single while two batters later, Alejandro Garza put Cal Poly ahead 3-2 on an RBI groundout.

CSUN again squared the game in the top of third, taking advantage of a Mustang error and a subsequent wild pitch to score Kyle Panganiban. The Matadors though fell behind in the home half of the frame following an RBI double from Dylan Kordic.

The seesaw battle continued in the fourth when Cormier tied the game once more at 4-4 on a solo homer.

CSUN's Adam Christopher would slow the Cal Poly offense over the middle innings, retiring six straight Mustang hitters to open his time on the mound. Cal Poly would get its first base runner with one out in the fifth, but Christopher induced a 5-4-3 double soon after to end the threat.

The game remained tied until the bottom of the sixth when the Mustang offense came alive with a two-out rally. Christopher retired two of three batters to start the sixth inning, but timely hits from Spiridonoff and Nate Castellon put Cal Poly ahead 6-4. An inning later, the Mustangs received more two-out hitting off the bats of Jake Downing and Spiridonoff as the lead swelled to 8-4.

After a strong start to the game, the Matador offense went cold against reliever Brad Estes who worked the final 3.2 innings. CSUN squeezed across its first run on Estes with two outs in the top of the ninth after a Mateo Rickman RBI double. Estes though bounced back to retire Vaughn Coleman on the next pitch to end the ballgame.

NOTES OF THE GAME

CSUN drops to 22-18 overall and 11-11 in Big West play while Cal Poly improves to 22-18 overall and 13-6 in conference.
The Mustangs outhit the Matadors 15-9.
Pena homered for a team-leading 14th time this season. His multi-RBI game was his 11th of the season.
Coleman drew a walk to extend his on base streak to 15 games.
Christopher worked 4.1 total innings out of the bullpen, allowing three runs on five hits.
Zach Johnson worked a shutout bottom of the eighth on the mound.

UP NEXT
CSUN and Cal Poly will continue their weekend series on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. on ESPN+.

#GoMatadors