Despite coming off back-to-back games where they showed flashes of offensive prowess, the Matadors barely escaped being shut out as they fell 11-1 to UC Santa Barbara Thursday night at Ceasar Uyesaka Stadium as they start a three game road trip.

Northridge struggled hitting as it finished the game with just six hits on a .187 batting average in nine innings, scoring its only run in the eighth when they were already trailing by 10.

Leading CSUN’s offensive charge were freshmen second baseman Ryan Raslowsky and infielder Chester Pak, who had two hits each and batted .500 and 1.000 respectively. Sophomore outfielder Miles Williams scored Northridge’s only run on Pak’s lone RBI, and also pitched in a hit while batting .250.

Adding to the Matadors’ offensive woes, juniors first basemen, Cal Vogelsang, designated hitter Adam Barry and center fielder Nate Ring  combined with senior third baseman Matthew Moreno to hit 0-of-13.

CSUN didn’t fare much better on the defensive end as Santa Barbara finished the game with 11 runs, 12 hits, and a batting average of .315. The Gauchos, who scored 10 unanswered runs, finished the game with eight RBI to the Matadors’ one. The Matadors also committed six errors throughout the game compared to Santa Barbara’s zero.

Eleven different Gauchos scored behind shortstop Steven Moon’s game-leading 3 RBI. Moon also had two runs and two hits as he made the most of his two at bats.

Northridge only had one hit that resulted in anything more than a single, but the Gauchos’ capitalized on CSUN’s lack of pitching and outfield play as they had seven doubles and four triples.

Senior pitcher for the Matadors Vincent Roberts, got most of the action out of the bullpen as he pitched five innings and struck out five opposing batters. He gave up seven hits, nine runs and walked three batters while accounting for six of the scored runs.

Santa Barbara’s leading pitcher, Andrew Vazquez, pitched six innings and gave up only three hits, no runs and struck out seven batters while walking six.