Cal Poly Falls to CSUN in Final Game of Big West Series, 6-4

Sunday, May 3

1 pm

21-23, 9-6

CSUN

27-19, 6-12

CSUN

Cal Poly

Cal Poly Falls to CSUN in Final Game of Big West Series, 6-4

5/3/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS OF CSUN SERIES

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Catcher Albee Weiss belted two home runs, driving in four runs, and junior right-hander Rayne Raven earned his sixth win as CSUN salvaged one win in its three-game Big West Conference baseball series at Cal Poly with a 6-4 victory Sunday afternoon.

The Matadors jumped to a 6-0 lead in the first five innings and held on for the win, improving to 27-19 for the season and 6-12 in the Big West.

Cal Poly, which rallied for four runs in the seventh, including a three-run home run by Zack Zehner, and loaded the bases with two outs in the ninth, slipped to 21-23 and 9-6.

The Mustangs faced their second chance to reach the .500 mark since a 1-6 start to the season, but let a 9-2 lead evaporate in a 10-inning loss to Long Beach State last Sunday and couldn't climb all the way back from a six-run deficit against CSUN.

Weiss, a .195 hitter entering the game, hit his fourth and fifth home runs of the year as the Matadors snapped a three-game losing streak. Weiss hit a three-run home run in the second inning and added a solo blast in the fourth, both to left field.

CSUN also scored single runs in the third and fifth frames in building its 6-0 lead. Mustang senior southpaw Taylor Chris, who relieved starter Slater Lee with one out in the fourth, shut the door on the Matadors the rest of the way, allowing just one run and four hits over 5 2/3 innings with six strikeouts.

But Cal Poly waited until the seventh to get on the scoreboard and fell short in the eighth and ninth frames.

Junior shortstop Peter Van Gansen singled up the middle to knock in the first Mustang run in the seventh and Zehner smashed an 0-2 pitch over the left-center field wall for a three-run blast, his seventh homer of the year, trimming CSUN's lead to 6-4.

Freshman right fielder Josh George doubled with two outs in the eighth inning and advanced to third on a wild pitch, but the Mustangs left him stranded at third as pinch-hitter Kevin Morgan struck out.

And in the ninth, a leadoff single by junior second baseman Mark Mathias, another single by Zehner and a hit batsman loaded the bases with two outs. Senior center fielder Jordan Ellis, who had two hits earlier in the game, hit a soft liner that was caught in foul territory by CSUN third baseman William Colantono, ending the game.

Raven (6-3) scattered six hits over 6 1/3 innings, allowing two runs and a pair of walks with four strikeouts for the win. The loss went to Lee (1-1) as he surrendered five runs and five hits in 3 1/3 innings.

Cal Poly's 11 hits included three singles by Mathias as he extended his hitting streak to 14 games, three shy of his career high. Zehner (pictured above) also had three hits, including a double and home run, while Van Gansen and Ellis each had two hits.

Weiss, first baseman Nolan Bumstead and left fielder Nolan Flashman all had two of CSUN's nine hits.

The Mustangs, who are two games in the loss column behind UC Irvine, Cal State Fullerton and UC Santa Barbara in the Big West standings, stranded 11 runners on the basepaths, leaving runners at first and third in the fourth inning as well as at first and second in the fifth.

Cal Poly, which clinched the series with 6-2 and 7-1 victories earlier in the weekend, plays its final midweek game of the season Tuesday, hosting San Jose State at 6 p.m. in Baggett Stadium.