Coach Matt Curtis said there is always a chance to bounce back and respond when a team beats you soundly.
“It’s a great opportunity to answer back. We play 56 games and until you get to the end of the season, there’s always another opportunity to answer back,” Curtis said.
That chance came quickly as the Matadors avenged their most lopsided loss of the season by beating Lamar University, 7-6, on Sunday in the fourth and final game of the YMBL Cardinal Classic in Beaumont, Texas.
The Cal State Northridge baseball team (7-5, 0-0 Big West) took the rematch after the Cardinals routed the Matadors 14-1 on Friday and split the four-game weekend games.
The CSUN youngsters provided the pop as sophomore outfielder Nathan Ring and freshman Miles Williams combined for three of the four Matador RBIs.
Ring sent a solo home run over the right field wall in the top of the first inning for the first score of the game. Williams, who had his first career start, went 2-for-3 with two RBIs.
Sophomore infielder Kyle Attl, who went 0-3 in that game, said the team was not going to deviate from the game plan, but cited errors as cause for the loss.
“We are just going to put it behind us. Last time they beat us up pretty bad because we made a couple mistakes and they kind off took the wheels off of us, but we’re going to come back hard and play good baseball,” Attl said.
And the Matadors did come hard, as they scored seven runs on nine hits.
The game was a complete turnaround for CSUN as it gave up 14 runs on 13 hits and seven walks to Lamar in Friday’s game.
Lamar (8-6) tacked CSUN starter Vincent Roberts for six runs and scored eight runs on the three Matador pitchers that came to the mound after.
Northridge grinded out a tough victory against the University of San Francisco Dons (4-7) on Saturday after losing the first two matchups of the weekend.
The game featured an outstanding game from Matadors starter Alex Muren, who pitched 5.2 innings of one-hit shutout baseball.
The Dons tied the game in the top of the eighth inning and that eventually led to extra innings.
The Matadors won the game on a sacrifice fly by catcher Steven Keller, which scored Attl from third base.
Attl attributed the win to team getting around to doing the small things that win those types of close games.
“We’re starting to slowly swing our sticks more, but I think doing the little details and doing the little things right consistently we can start winning these close games,” Attl said.
Curtis also cited the small details as reason for the win.
“I think today we’re seeing the positives. They were looking for ways to find a way to win this game. A game like this, it came down to the little details,” Curtis said.
The Matadors lost a close game on Thursday to New Mexico State (10-2), 6-5, when CSUN pitcher Ryan Juarez gave up the winning run on a single to centerfield.
Northridge will face San Diego State (3-9) in a Tuesday afternoon game at Matador Field.
The Aztecs are currently on a bad stretch, having lost seven of their last eight games.
