NORTHRIDGE, Calif.—CSUN Baseball dropped the middle game of a three-game series with Long Beach State by a 17-4 score on Friday at Robert J. Hiegert Field. The Dirtbags pounded out 20 hits including 10 extra base hits in the victory. Trent Abel and Andrew Becker had two hits each for the Matadors.
HOW IT HAPPENED
CSUN would hold down Long Beach State in the first inning as starter Lucas Alaniz stranded two Dirtbags on base. However, from there, the Long Beach State offense went on the attack.
Smith Chandler started a big five-run top of the second for the Dirtbags with a solo home run. Long Beach State eventually batted around in the inning, scoring five times on five hits, capped by a three-run homer from Jake Evans.
Long Beach State though was far from done. In the third inning, the Dirtbags once again batted around and scored five more times. A crucial Matador error on a potential inning-ending double play would eventually lead to three unearned runs coming across as CSUN looked up at a 10-0 deficit.
The Matadors got a run back in the home half of the third on a wild pitch but stranded another potential run at third.
After they were held down in the fourth, the Dirtbags put up another crooked number in the fifth, scoring four more times as Aaron Perez and Matt Toomey collected RBI hits with two outs. The lead swelled to 17-1 in the top of the seventh when Chandler belted another home run, this time a two-run shot while Conner Stewart came away with a two-out RBI single.
Despite the big deficit, the Matadors kept fighting in the late innings. Vaughn Coleman picked up a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh while Andrew Becker hit a two-out RBI single. CSUN loaded the bases in the ninth with one out, scoring once on a hit batsman, but Long Beach State shut the door on further runs coming across.
NOTES OF THE GAME
CSUN drops to 16-13 overall and 7-7 in Big West play while Long Beach State improves to 10-19 overall and 5-9 in conference.
The Dirtbags outhit the Matadors 20-11 in the contest.
Six Matador pitchers saw action on the day. Charles Rogers pitched the most, tossing 2.1 innings with three runs allowed.
Both Jack Jones and Calix Armijo tossed scoreless frames late in the ballgame.
Colton Boardman extended his on base streak to 14 games.
Becker has now hit safely in eight straight.
Long Beach State starter Luke Howe tossed seven innings, allowing three runs with seven strikeouts.
UP NEXT
CSUN and Long Beach State play the rubber game of their weekend series on Saturday at 1 p.m. Ghizal Hasan has the call in an audio broadcast at GoMatadors.com/Radio.
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