As CSUN’s baseball team took the field on Sunday afternoon, the stage was set for the Matadors to complete the series comeback and clinch the three-game series at UC Riverside by winning two of three against the Highlanders.
Unfortunately for the Matadors, the Highlanders had other plans as they throttled CSUN 6-0.
In the previous game of the series on Saturday, the Matadors’ bats broke the ninth inning open by scoring five runs in the last frame to seal the 7-2 win for CSUN.
Saturday evening was the last time the Matadors celebrated during the weekend as the Matador bats went quiet on Sunday.
The same was temporarily true for UC Riverside, as sophomore pitcher Andrew held the Highlanders to one run through the first three innings.
Heading into the fourth, the momentum felt like it was on the Matadors’ side after the Highlanders had stranded a man on third in the previous inning.
Unfortunately, the Matadors’ hitters flamed out in the inning, as it only took nine pitches to get three of them out.
Picking up where the Highlander pitching staff left off, Aaron Cisneros blasted a homer down the right field line on a full count for the Highlanders, increasing the lead to 2-0.
Allowing two more singles in the inning Matadors coach, Greg Moore, decided that it was time for a pitching change as he decided to replace Weston with senior pitcher Nick Viola.
Viola’s outing did not last too long as he only faced three batters allowing one run while striking out one.
With the bases loaded, the Matadors made another pitching change as they decided to go with junior pitcher Mathew Troupe.
Troupe was able to survive the inning, but not before allowing two more Highlanders to score.
Heading into the fifth, the score was 5-0 Highlanders.
The fifth inning proved to deadly and suppressed the thought of any comeback by the Matadors.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Highlanders were able to score one more run assuring that there would be no come-from-behind win for the Matadors.
During the last two innings,the Matador bats were able to only record one hit and were unable provide an offensive spark for any sort of Matador comeback in the final frames.
The loss gave UC Riverside the series win, and drops the Matadors to 25-16 overall and 4-11 in Big West play.
CSUN will return home and start a three-game series against Cal Poly on starting at 3 p.m. on Friday, May 6.
