NORTHRIDGE, Calif.—CSUN Baseball scored a season high in runs as the Matadors emphatically won the rubber game of their with weekend series with Long Beach State, 18-4, on Saturday at Robert J. Higert FIeld.<\/p>\n
Five Matadors had multi-RBI games while Matthew Thomas<\/a> finished with four hits, four RBI and a home run and Trent Abel<\/a> collected four hits and three RBI. Andrew Becker<\/a>, Matthew Pena<\/a> and Matthew Comier also homered to help CSUN to a series victory over the Dirtbags.\u00a0<\/p>\n HOW IT HAPPENED CSUN would be far from done offensively on the day. In the second, Becker stroked a solo homer to right center, making it a 4-0 game.\u00a0<\/p>\n Long Beach State, which scored 17 runs in a Friday victory, fought back into the game in the third inning, rallying with two outs. CSUN starter Traig Oughton<\/a> hit a pair of batters and gave up a single to load the bases before Dylan Lina knocked in two runs with a single. Smith Chandler followed with a two-run double to center, tying the game at 4-4.\u00a0<\/p>\n Oughton bounced back to sit down the Dirtbags in the fourth inning, giving the Matador offense a chance to break out moments later. In the home half of the fourth, the CSUN bats exploded again, this time for five runs. A Vaughn Coleman<\/a> double and a Thomas single quickly gave CSUN the lead at 5-4. Boardman would drive in another run on a groundout to the right side while two batters later, Pena belted a three-run homer to right field, putting CSUN on top 9-4.\u00a0<\/p>\n The fourth inning began a stretch of 14 unanswered runs for CSUN. In the fifth, Becker added to his RBI total with a hustle double, scoring Thomas. An inning later, Abel picked up an RBI double down the left field line and Thomas collected another RBI single to right. Four more runs came across for CSUN in the seventh, highlighted by a two-run homer from Cormier along with an RBI double from Coleman and an RBi single from Thomas.\u00a0<\/p>\n CSUN extended to an 18-4 lead in the bottom of the eighth following a sacrifice fly from Jehee Lee<\/a> and yet another RBI hit from Abel.\u00a0<\/p>\n On the mound, CSUN’s bullpen shut down Long Beach State over the last five frames. Adam Christopher<\/a> gave CSUN a big lift, tossing three straight shutout innings including retiring eight straight batters during one stretch. Logan Miller<\/a> would toss a scoreless top of the eighth and James Voorhies<\/a> shut the door with a 1-2-3 ninth.\u00a0<\/p>\n NOTES OF THE GAME
\nTRENT ABEL SAID “Today, I just wanted to keep the approach simple [at the plate], get something over the plate I can handle and don’t try to do so much.”<\/p>\n
\nWith the series up for grabs on Saturday, the Matadors came out quickly offensively at the start. Just three pitches into the bottom of the first, CSUN took a 1-0 lead as Thomas hammered a homer to left. CSUN put together another rally with two outs after walks to Colton Boardman<\/a> and Pena. Cormier and Abel each came away with clutch RBI singles to extend the lead to 3-0.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\n\tCSUN improves to 17-13 overall and 8-7 in Big West play while Long Beach State falls to 10-20 overall and 5-10 in conference.\u00a0
\n\tThe Matadors outhit the Dirtbags 16-7.\u00a0
\n\tCSUN has won five consecutive series with Long Beach State, going back to 2022.\u00a0
\n\tBecker finished 3-for-5 with two RBI and two runs scored while Cormier was 2-for-4 with three RBI and two runs scored. Coleman added two more hits with two runs scored.\u00a0
\n\tEight of the nine Matador starters scored at least once.
\n\tBoardman has reached safely in 15 straight games while Thomas has reached in 12 in a row.\u00a0
\n\tChristopher improved to 3-2 on the mound after earning the win with his three shutout innings. He also struck out two and scattered two hits.\u00a0
\n\tOughton finished with four runs allowed in four innings of work.\u00a0
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\n“We were just trying to keep things simple and compete. We just had to flush [yesterday] and move on. We had a much needed series win today.<\/p>\n