CSUN continued their downward slide on Tuesday at Matador Diamond as they gave up a two-run homerun to BYU (11-7) in the third inning en route to a 6-5 loss.

Things were looking good in the beginning as the Matadors (6-11) put up two runs in the bottom of the first inning.

Senior lead-off hitter Jeff Pruitt was hit by a pitch and then stole second in the bottom of the first inning to get into scoring position.

Then junior outfielder CJ Belanger came to the plate and hit a base hit RBI that gave CSUN a 1-0 lead.

In the same inning Belanger advanced to second base on a throwing error and then reached third after the BYU catcher interfered with a pitch to CSUN sophomore first baseman Dominic D’Anna.

Matadors sophomore designated hitter Chris Hannick then came to the plate and singled up the middle to score Belanger and give his team a 2-0 lead.

The lead wouldn’t last very long, though.’ In the third inning BYU put up a run after CSUN sophomore relieving pitcher Paul Tremlin balked with a man on third.

A few at bats later BYU third baseman Steve parker came to bat and blasted a two run shot to give the Cougars a 4-2 lead.

In the top of the seventh inning the Cougars were able to get another two run blast at the expense of junior right-handed pitcher Ryan McCarney, who before giving up the homerun had struck out four batters in three-and-a-half innings of work.

The Matadors attempted one last comeback in the bottom of the ninth after sophomore third baseman Ryan Pineda extended his hitting streak to 17 games with a base hit that scored Pruitt to make the game 6-5.’ But D’Anna came up next and grounded out to finish the game.

In the end it was the same story for the Matadors as the offense was there but the pitching didn’t hold up their end.

The Matadors will open a four-game home stand on Thursday against Columbia at 3 p.m.’ With conference play coming up in under two weeks, CSUN will need to figure a lot of things out in order to have a good year.