NORTHRIDGE, Calif. -  The UC Riverside baseball team got out to a slow start at CSUN and were unable to recover, falling to the Matadors 14-5. The team dropped to 1-3 in the Big West Conference.
 
Sophomore Abbott Haffar wasn't able to find the same success that he had at UC Davis. CSUN was able to put up 10 runs in the first two innings of the game that put the Highlanders in a deep hole.
 
The team kept battling as they have shown throughout the season. After the second inning, the Highlanders won the rest of the way, 5-4, but were unable to recover from the first two innings.
 
Riverside showed some pop in the game getting three home runs from seniors Dean Miller and Yeagar Taylor as well as junior Connor Cannon. Cannon's homerun puts him at 6 for the year, which moves him up to fourth in the Big West. The junior also extended his hit streak to seven games.
 
The top six batters in the lineup for the Highlanders all recorded a hit in the loss. The team got doubles from sophomore Nathan Webb and freshman Jacob Shanks. Webb has improved his average by 67 points in the last 12 games raising his average to .258 while Shanks extended his own hitting streak to five games.
 
Freshman Andre Granillo was the Highlander's most effective pitcher Friday night. He struck out six batters in the last three innings of work to stop the bleeding.
 
Junior Riley Ohl takes the ball tomorrow to try and get the Highlanders back on track. The second game of the series is tomorrow, Saturday, April 6th at 1:00pm.