CSUN Hosts UCSB in Pivotal Weekend Series

Friday, May 8

Northridge, Calif.

5:00 p.m.

California State University at Northridge

UC Santa Barbara

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Photo by: Chuck Marvel

CSUN Hosts UCSB in Pivotal Weekend Series

5/7/2026 12:56:00 PM | Baseball

BASE Game Notes - May 7

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.---CSUN Baseball wraps up its home schedule with a weekend series against UC Santa Barbara at Robert J. Hiegert Field. The opener is set for Friday at 5 p.m. while the rest of the series is slated for Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. All three games will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Ghizal Hasan on the call.

FOR STARTERS
With six games left in the regular season, CSUN (24-23, 11-13 Big West) sits in sixth place in the conference standings and two games back of the final postseason spot for the Big West Baseball Championship. Currently holding onto the final two postseason spots are Hawai'i and Cal State Fullerton, which both boast identical 13-11 conference records. CSUN does hold the tiebreaker with Cal State Fullerton by virtue of a sweep earlier this season. The Matadors visit Hawai'i (May 13-15) next week in the final series of the regular season.

Elsewhere in the Big West standings, Cal Poly occupies first place (17-7) followed by UC Santa Barbara (16-8) and UC San Diego (14-10). The 2026 Big West Championship will be held at UC Irvine in two weeks from May 20-24.

LAST TIME OUT
CSUN rallied from five runs down in the bottom of the ninth to force extra innings, but California Baptist spoiled the comeback with a 9-7 win in 11 innings on Tuesday at Robert J. Hiegert Field. The Matadors' furious rally featured four homers in the ninth inning with Trent Abel hammering the tying home run with two outs. The Lancers though took advantage of a two-out error from CSUN to plate a pair of unearned runs. Abel tied a career high with four hits in the contest while Kyle Panganiban had two hits and three RBI to go with a two-run homer in that ninth-inning comeback. Tagged with the hard-luck loss, Traig Oughton tossed 2.2 innings and struck out four out of the bullpen as he surrendered the two unearned runs.

COLEMAN IS NO MERE FRESHMAN
CSUN's center fielder Vaughn Coleman has enjoyed one of the top freshman campaigns in the Matador history in 2026. Coleman's nine homers are the second-most by a CSUN freshman in the program's Division I history and the most overall since Eric Horvat hit a school freshman record 12 in 1998. On the RBI front, Coleman has already registered 35 this season, which are tied for the fifth-most by a freshman in the school's D1 era and the most since Horvat collected 44 in that 1998 season. Overall, Coleman is ranked eighth in the Big West in homers, on-base percentage (.433) and slugging percentage (.555) while is ranked ninth in RBI.

NATIONAL RECOGNITION FOR MATADOR TRIO
Three Matadors were ranked in this week's D1Baseball's Player Rankings. Junior Matthew Thomas moved up to 40th on the outfielder list after he was listed at 45th on the midseason list while redshirt sophomore Kyle Panganiban remains on the third baseman list at 49th (was previously 47th). Freshman closer James Voorhies entered the top 100 relief pitcher list, placing at 84th overall. Thomas tops the Matadors in host of categories in his first season with CSUN as he is slashing .351/.425/.719 to go with 14 homers, 40 RBI and 44 runs scored over 47 starts. Panganiban, who has managed third base since last season, is hitting at .301 with nine homers, 35 RBI, 34 runs scored and eight stolen bases. Voorhies has turned heads in his freshman campaign, racking up five saves, four wins and 38 strikeouts to go with a 3.13 ERA over 15 appearances.

LEADING THE BIG WEST
CSUN's offense continues to be one of the most explosive in the Big West as the Matadors top the conference in home runs (70), RBI (286), total bases (811) and slugging percentage (.501). The team is also ranked second in the Big West in several offensive categories including batting average (.294), hits (476) and doubles (99). On the defensive side, the Matadors are sporting a .976 fielding percentage, which is tied for first in the Big West.

Junior outfielder Matthew Thomas is ranked first in the Big West in multiple offensive categories including OPS (1.144), slugging percentage (.719) and doubles (20) while he shares the top spot in home runs with teammate Matthew Pena at 14.

MATADOR QUICK HITS
CSUN's pitching staff enters the week ranked ninth in the nation in walks allowed per nine innings, averaging 3.17. Sophomore starter Gabriel Hernandez has played a big role in that average, allowing just 11 walks for a 1.56 average to rank 23rd in the nation ... The Matador defense has turned 46 double plays on the season, good enough for second in the Big West and ninth in the nation ... CSUN's 70 home runs this season are the program's most since 2002 when that Matador team clubbed 90 homers ... Two Matadors are ranked in the top-10 in batting in the Big West as Matthew Thomas is fourth at .351 and Andrew Becker is eighth at .331 ... Speaking of Thomas, he enters the weekend eighth in the nation with 20 doubles ... Freshman closer James Voorhies has notched five saves to place third in the Big West.

SCOUTING UC SANTA BARBARA
The Gauchos are 31-15 overall and 16-8 in Big West play as they are just one game out of first place in the conference. The team has won four straight after sweeping Cal State Bakersfield last weekend and beating Pepperdine 13-3 this past Tuesday. UCSB boasts one of the top pitching staffs in the country with the Gauchos entering the weekend fourth in the nation in ERA at 3.41 to go with averaging 10.1 strikeouts per nine innings. Jackson Flora leads the nation in ERA at 0.73 and ranks fourth overall in wins (9-0) and 11th in strikeouts (96). On the hitting side, the Gauchos hit .281 as a group, led by Rowan Kelly who is batting .337 with three homers and 35 RBI. Noah Karliner leads the squad with eight homers.

Series History: UCSB leads CSUN 102-70-3 in the all-time series with wins in seven straight games. The Gauchos swept the series last season, outscoring the Matadors though by just four combined runs. The Matadors look to snap a nine-game skid to UCSB at home.

#GoMatadors