Daily Sundial
The Cal State Northridge baseball team opened its first home stand of the season in ideal fashion as they swept the Nevada Wolf Pack at Matador field over the weekend.
The Matadors pitching staff held Nevada to five runs in three games. The staff also received help from the offense as the Matadors scored 26 runs in the three-game series.
“It’s a good confidence when the guys behind you are doing a good job,” junior pitcher Craig Baker said.
In game one, Baker started for the Matadors and went up against the Wolf Pack’s Matt Renfree.
The Matadors fell behind in the second inning when Nevada first baseman Daniel Eastham hit a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded, scoring right fielder Shawn Scobee from third. CSUN, however, managed to get out of the inning giving up only one run.
The Matadors took the lead in the bottom of the third. Junior catcher Steve Lemmon opened the inning with a double to left-center followed by a walk by junior center fielder Johnny Coit. Junior shortstop Jonathan Sakurai advanced the runners on a sacrifice bunt. Junior left fielder Kris Kasarjian grounded to second which brought in Lemmon and moved Coit to third. Sophomore right fielder Brett Blumenthal followed with a single to score Coit.
In the sixth inning, the Wolf Pack regained the lead. With two runners on, Scobee hit a three-run home run, giving Nevada a 4-2 lead.
The Matadors rebounded quickly in the bottom of the sixth with two home runs from Lemmon and junior first baseman Jorge Andrade.
It would be all Matadors the rest of the game as they went scored three more runs in the seventh.
Baker recorded 10 strike outs in eight innings in the Matadors’ 7-4 win.
In game two, freshman Edwin Quirarte started for CSUN against Nevada’s Ryan Rodriguez.
In the second inning, the Matadors turned to trickery to stop a potential high-scoring inning. With two runners on and no outs, the Matadors used the hidden ball trick as Sakurai tagged out second base runner Scobee. The Matadors got out of the inning without giving up any runs.
“Anything to help the pitcher so they just decided to take a chance,” Sakurai said, referring to the trick play.
The only two Wolf Pack hits came in the second inning.
For the first time this season, the Matadors scored first. In the bottom of the second, junior second baseman Alex Bardeguez led off with a single to the right side and reached second on a stolen base. With two outs, Coit reached first base on a fielding error and advanced to second on a throwing error. Bardeguez scored on a throwing error to give CSUN a 1-0 lead.
Coit advanced to third on a wild pitch and Sakurai and Kasarjian loaded the bases with back-to-back walks for Blumenthal. Blumenthal doubled to right, scoring two more runs.
The Matadors scored one run in the third and one in the fourth to give them a 5-0 lead.
In the bottom of the fifth, with a runner on first, Lemmon doubled to left-center to score a run. Sakurai and Kasarjian followed with back-to-back walks for the second time in the game to load the bases. Blumenthal hit an infield single to score Lemmon. With the bases still loaded, senior Noah Scott entered the game to pinch hit for freshman first baseman Chris Auten and freshman Richard Cates came in to run for Blumenthal. Scott singled to left-center, bringing in two more runs.
The Matadors scored four runs in the sixth and one more in the seventh.
CSUN finished the game with 14 runs and 17 hits. Quirarte recorded his first win of the season and received good support from the bullpen.
Sophomore Chuckie Fick closed out the series for the Matadors, taking on Nevada’s Travis Sutton.
For the second game in a row, the Matadors scored first.
In the bottom of the first, Sakurai singled to left, stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Blumenthal singled to left to bring in Sakurai.
In the second inning, with junior third baseman Todd Shelton on second, Sakurai doubled to left, scoring Shelton. Kasarjian followed with a single to bring in Sakurai and put the Matadors ahead 3-0.
The Wolf Pack recorded their only run in the fourth when Scobee scored on a double by first baseman Garett Carson.
Senior Jimmy Brettl came in to relieve Fick in the sixth inning. Fick was injured on two separate occasions but managed to pitch five innings. Brettl continued where Fick left off, allowing only two hits in four innings of work. Fick and Brettl combined for a total of nine strikeouts.
The Matadors scored one run in the sixth when Shelton hit a sacrifice fly to bring in Lemmon. The final Matador run came in the eighth inning when Lemmon scored on a wild pitch by Dorsett.
Head coach Rousey was happy with his team’s performance during the series.
“I’m more into the fundamentals,” Rousey said. “My satisfaction comes from when we play fundamentally sound.”
The Matadors begin a three-game series against New Orleans beginning Feb. 10 at 2 p.m. The game on Feb. 11 begins at 1 p.m. while the game on Feb. 12 is scheduled to begin at noon.
Victor Flores can be reached at sports_sundial@csun.edu.
