26-18, 7-6
CSUN
26-16, 5-11
Cal Poly Falls to CSUN 7-2 in Opener of Series
5/7/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
NORTHRIDGE, Calif. – CSUN scored five runs in the fourth inning to overcome a 2-1 deficit and went on to beat Cal Poly 7-2 in the opening game of a Big West Conference doubleheader Saturday afternoon at Matador Field.
In an inning in which Cal Poly should have recorded five outs, CSUN instead parlayed four hits, a walk and two wild pitches into five runs and a 6-2 lead.
The inning was extended when Justin Toerner's grounder to the right side resulted in no Mustang covering first base. In addition, Jayson Newman struck out, but reached first base on a wild pitch.
The loss dropped Cal Poly to 26-18 for the season and 7-6 in Big West games. CSUN improved to 26-16 and 5-11.
Second game of the doubleheader is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m.
After CSUN scored an unearned run in the first inning, Cal Poly answered with a solo home run by Alec Smith in the second. The Mustangs took a 2-1 lead in the fourth on Nick Meyer's RBI single.
The lead was short-lived as CSUN turned it around and broke the game open with a five-run fourth-inning rally.
Schuknecht and Kyle Marinconz both had two of Cal Poly's seven hits. CSUN was led at the plate by Toerner and Dylan Alexander, each with two hits. Elias Orona added a two-run home run in the fourth inning, his first as a Matador.
That home run was the first allowed by Mustang sophomore southpaw Kyle Smith in his collegiate career covering 165 2/3 innings. Smith (5-5) allowed six runs and eight hits over five innings Saturday with two walks and seven strikeouts, but also threw four wild pitches.
Freshman right-hander Craig Colen tossed three hitless innings in relief, allowing one unearned run and striking out two.
The win went to Nick Viola (1-0), who relieved Big West strikeout leader Kenny Rosenberg in the fourth inning and shut the door on the Mustangs, pitching 5 1/3 scoreless innings with no walks, two hits and four strikeouts. Viola had pitched just 9 2/3 innings all season prior to Saturday.
Rosenberg gave up two runs and five hits in 3 2/3 innings with four walks and four strikeouts.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Viola, Nick (1-0)
L: Smith, Kyle (5-5)
Batting:
HR: Smith, Alec 1
RBI: Meyer, Nick 1 ; Smith, Alec 1
SH: Polshuk, Ben 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Smith, Alec 1 ; Moore, Cooper 1
SB: Schuknecht, John 1
Batting:
2B: Berry, Branden 1 ; Toerner, Justin 1 ; Alexander, Dylan 1
HR: Orona, Elias 1
RBI: Berry, Branden 1 ; Alexander, Dylan 1 ; Orona, Elias 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Smith, Fred 1 ; Akitoshi, Yusuke 1 ; Toerner, Justin 2 ; Alexander, Dylan 1 ; Newman, Jayson 1 ; Orona, Elias 1
SB: Smith, Fred 1
CS: Orona, Elias 1
