CSUN baseball lost the Big West opener to the U.C. Davis Aggies due to the Aggies’ balanced offensive attack, which scored eight runs, to put the Matadors in an early hole.

The Matadors also struggled against U.C. Davis starting pitcher Robert Garcia, who went seven innings and only allowed three hits and two runs on the outing.

It was not a great day for current Matador ace starting pitcher Tei Vanderford, who was charged with all eight runs in the game, only striking out one batter and allowing 14 hits.

Even though all eight of the runs Vanderford allowed came in his first five innings pitched, he still managed to pitch for two more innings and did not allow any more runs to score.

The Matador bullpen was not overused and is fresh going into the next couple of games against U.C. Davis this weekend.

The Matadors got two runs back in the sixth inning thanks to first baseman Kevin Riley’s RBI triple and scored on a wild pitch later in the inning.

Pitcher Ricky Rivera came in for Vanderford and had an effective one inning outing only allowing one hit.

The Matadors could not get any more runs and lost their first game of the Big West season 8-2.

The next game of the three game series is on Saturday April 1 at 1 p.m. at U.C. Davis.