The Cal State Northridge baseball team opened up their season scoring 32 runs in three games during the MLB Urban Invitational; unfortunately they gave up 30 runs and came away with a 1-2 record. The Matadors got off to a solid start defeating Bethune-Cookman 18-4 on Friday. CSUN suffered a 12-9 defeat to Southern University on Saturday and closed out the invitational with a 14-5 loss to UCLA on Sunday.

“We did really well in spurts,” said Matador head coach Steve Rousey after the UCLA game. “We didn’t put together nine innings, even in the victory (against Southern).”

CSUN began the invitational with a come from behind victory over the Wildcats. After falling behind 4-0 the Matadors scored 18 unanswered runs, including nine in the sixth inning. The Matadors were led by first baseman Dominic D’Anna and second baseman Ryan Pineda, who each went 4-for-5 and had a combined eight RBIs.

Matador starting pitcher Ryan Juarez pitched 5.2 innings and struck out four batters.

In the second game on Saturday against the Jaguars, it was the Matadors who got off to the quick start. The Matadors scored four runs in the first inning, including a solo home run by Pineda.  The Matadors benefited from two errors in the first inning by the Jaguars.

 The Matadors took a 4-1 lead going into the bottom of the third but the Jaguars were able to score six runs on starting pitcher Billy Ott, which forced Rousey to remove Ott from the game. The scoring was capped off by a two-run RBI double by Jaguars right fielder Diomendes Gonzales.

The Matadors regained the lead in the seventh by scoring three runs, including one on a RBI double by catcher Dominic Piazza. The Matadors added another run in the eighth with a RBI triple by center fielder Andrew Muren to make it 9-7.

The Jaguars, however, scored five runs in the bottom of the eighth; four of those runs were scored on Matador pitcher Chris Deboo, who was charged with the loss.

The Matadors concluded the weekend with a 14-5 loss to UCLA at Jackie Robinson Stadium. Once again the Matadors jumped out to an early lead. The Matadors scored two runs in the second inning giving them a 2-0 lead. One run was brought in on a RBI double by infielder TS Reed. The Bruins cut the lead to 2-1 in the bottom of the second.

The Matadors increased their lead to 4-1 in the fourth thanks to RBI singles by Ridge Carpenter, who went 3-for-3, and Andrew Muren. The Bruins responded by scoring nine unanswered runs, and put the game away in the seventh by scoring another three runs.

“We gave UCLA walks, gave them things defensively,” Rousey said. “We were very good and very bad. We made mental mistakes, but now we move on to the next.”