Kenji Pallares tossed five shutout innings while California State University, Northridge (9-3) scored six runs over its first four innings en route to an 8-3 win over Pepperdine at Eddy D. Field Stadium on Monday afternoon. Jacob Simons finished 2-for-4 with three RBI and a home run. Ryan Wentz made his return to the mound, tossing three shutout innings for a save.

The Matadors would bat around in the second inning, scoring four times to jump in front. CSUN had runners at first and second base with two outs when Bren Wilkinson delivered an RBI single for the game’s first run. Moments later, Simons smacked a three-run homer to left field to extend the CSUN lead to 4-0.

Two innings later, the Matadors would come up with timely two-out hitting to add to their lead. In the frame, Ali Camarillo narrowly missed a home run as he doubled off the left-field wall to bring home a hustling Shunsuke Sakaino. Kevin Fitzer followed with an RBI single to left for a 6-0 advantage.

Meanwhile, Pallares would cruise on the mound in his five innings of work. After surrendering a two-out single in the first, Pallares retired the next seven batters in a row. Pepperdine would get its first runner in scoring position in the bottom of the fourth on a leadoff double from John Peck, but Pallares went on to sit down the next three batters in succession.

Pallares faced the most trouble in the home half of the fifth when the Waves collected a one-out walk and a two-out single. However, Pallares forced Charles Massino to fly out to deep right center field for the final out.

Pepperdine finally broke through against CSUN’s bullpen in the sixth. The Waves scored their first run after two hit batters and two walks forced in a run. Jack Basseer followed with a two-run single to cut the CSUN lead to 6-3. Jon Mocherman would prevent any further damage by retiring Jack Goodman, stranding two base runners.

The Waves threatened again in the seventh inning, this time against Wentz. After a leadoff double from Massino, Wentz walked two batters with one out to load the bases. Wentz though bounced back to strike out both Quintt Landis and Lincoln Orellana looking.

CSUN added two insurance runs in the top of the ninth in support of Wentz. Simons singled and Kamau Neighbors reached on a hit by pitch to begin the frame. Both base runners would eventually steal bases, setting the table for Andrew Sojka to hit a sacrifice fly. Two batters later, Mason Le made it an 8-3 game with a double off the left-field wall.

Over his final two innings on the mound, Wentz settled in to retire six of seven batters, three of which on strikeouts, to collect the save.

Game Notes
Jakob Simons registered his fourth home run of the season as well as his sixth multiple-hit performance. Simons has reached base safely in all 12 games this season. In addition to Simons, Ben Griffin (2-for-3) and Bren Wilkinson (2-for-4) had multiple-hit games on Monday.

CSUN was a perfect 4-for-4 in stolen bases in the game with Wilkinson picking up two while Simons and Kamau Neighbors had one a piece.

Ryan Wentz made his return to the mound for the first time since Feb. 19. His save was the first of his career. Kenji Pallares improved to 3-0 on the season.

“I thought today was a good step forward,” said head coach Eddie Cornejo In the two games at Pacific, we weren’t in character offensively, we weren’t sticking to a good approach and we let that frustrate us. I thought today was a step in the right direction offensively. The ball wasn’t really going anywhere, but we were able to hit some balls over their heads. It came down to our pitching and defense, they kept us in it and allowed our offense to hit their stride. I’m happy to have Ryan back. He has electric stuff. If he can stay healthy, he’ll be a huge catalyst for us. Sometimes we’ve had some inconsistency out of the bullpen. We’re trying to build him up and we’re not quite sure how we’ll use him yet, but he gives us a lot of confidence heading into next weekend.”

Up Next: 
CSUN opens Big West play this weekend with a road series against UC Davis. The opener is set for Friday at 2 p.m.