CSUN Falls to CBU 9-7 After Forcing Extra Innings with Five-Run Ninth

Tuesday, May 5

Northridge, Calif.

5:00 p.m.

California State University at Northridge

24-23

California Baptist

38-11

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
California Baptist	0	0	1	3	1	0	0	2	0	0	2	9	15	1
CSUN	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	5	0	0	7	13	2

Photo by: Chuck Marvel

CSUN Falls to CBU 9-7 After Forcing Extra Innings with Five-Run Ninth

5/5/2026 9:49:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Baseball hammered four homers in a five-run ninth inning, but the Matadors would fall to California Baptist 9-7 score in 11 innings on Tuesday at Robert J. Hiegert Field. Trent Abel finished with four hits including the game-tying homer in the ninth inning, while Will Linberg, Cameron Calvillo, Kyle Panganiban and Matthew Cormier also homered on the night.

Eight Matador pitchers saw the mound as Traig Oughton was tagged with the hard-luck loss after giving up two unearned runs in the 11th over his 2.2 innings of work.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Gage McCown earned the Tuesday start for CSUN as the freshman right hander tossed a pair shutout innings to open the contest. CBU though ended that string with a one-out solo homer from Riley Hunsaker. It would not be the last home run for Hunsaker on the evening as the outfielder also hit a three-run homer in the fourth inning.

CSUN would fall behind 5-0 after a fifth-inning sacrifice fly from Connor Ross. The Matadors though quickly responded in the home half of the fifth when Cormier hit a leadoff solo homer. Hits from Colton Boardman and Matthew Thomas kept the rally alive before Panganiban drove in another run on a groundout.

The comeback would be held at bay in the sixth inning when the Matadors stranded the bases loaded as Linberg went down on strikes. CBU took advantage of the lost scoring chance by plating two more in the eighth on RBI hits from Cole Howarth and Matt Chavez.

CSUN entered the bottom of the ninth trailing 7-2 but had one last rally up its sleeve. The Matadors turned to the long ball in the inning with Linberg beginning the frame with a homer. After Matthew Thomas drew a walk, Panganiban smacked a two-run homer, pulling the Matadors to within two. Two batters later, Cameron Calvillo joined the homer parade with a solo shot to cut the lead to 7-6.

Leading by a run, CBU would get two outs in the ninth as Abel stepped to the plate with the game on the line. The Matador shortstop fought to a 1-2 count before hitting a drive to left field that just cleared the fence to tie the game at 7-7.

The Matadors had an opportunity to win the game in the bottom of the 10th, benefiting on a two-out throwing error to get the winning run on base. Pinch runner Evan Saito stole second base, and Panganiban drew a walk to bring Vaughn Coleman to the plate. Coleman would send a drive to left field, but the ball hung up for Ryder Dykstra to catch just in front of the warning track.

With new life, the Lancers picked up two singles to start the top of the 11th. Kody King entered in relief of Oughton, who worked the previous 2.2 innings with no runs across, and preceded to pick up two straight outs. Diesel Toth followed with a sharp hit grounder to short, but a defensive miscue resulted in the go-ahead run scoring. CBU eventually went ahead 7-5 on a Carter Eberhard RBI single.

In the bottom of the 11th, CSUN collected one-out singles from Matthew Pena and Abel, but CBU's Bryan Peck induced an inning-ending double play off the bat of Xavier Rios to end the ballgame.

NOTES OF THE GAME

CSUN drops to 24-23 overall while California Baptist improves to 38-11.
The Lancers outhit the Matadors 15-13.
Nine Matadors recorded at least one hit in the game.
Panganiban finished with two hits while he drove in three runs and reached base four times.
Pena has now reached base safely in 12 straight games.
McCown finished with three innings pitched and one run allowed to go with two strikeouts in his first career start.
Cody Carson, Lucas Alaniz, Calix Armijo, Logan Miller, Charles Rogers also were among the CSUN pitchers that appeared in the game.

ACCORDING TO COACH EDDIE CORNEJO
"It was a hard-fought battle to come back in the ninth. I haven't seen quite anything like that, so hopefully we can build off of it and win an extra inning game at some point. We were swinging at good pitches to hit and we weren't missing them [in the ninth inning], which was a good portion of what we were doing all game. So, it was good to see that we began to click there in the ninth."

UP NEXT
CSUN opens its final home series of the season on Friday when the Matadors take on UC Santa Barbara. First pitch is set for 5 p.m. on ESPN+ with Ghizal Hasan on the call.

#GoMatadors