Northridge, Calif. – The University of California, Riverside Highlanders concluded an exciting four-game Big West set on the road against CSUN on Sunday, April 18. UCR entered the final game having already claimed the series, with three wins against the Matadors in games one, two and three. The Highlanders sought to sweep CSUN, but came up short in Sunday's slugfest. In a game that had five homeruns between the two teams, the Matadors won, 15-8.
 
UCR was responsible for three of the five homers, accounting for seven of the Highlander's eight runs in the game. In the fifth inning, Ethan Payne hit a two-run homerun to left field, closing the deficit to 7-3. Nate Webb picked up where he left off and hit a three-run homerun in the same inning, bringing UCR within one point of the Matadors, 7-6.
 
A sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fifth inning brought in a Matador run to extend their lead, 8-6. Joey Nicolai answered back for his team with a two-run homerun in the top of the sixth frame, tying the game at 8-8.
 
The Matadors exploded late in the game, scoring seven runs in innings six through eight, to take the game with a final score of 15-8.
 
Head Coach Justin Johnson is already looking to next weekend's series, saying, "This weekend was an outstanding weekend for us overall. I am super proud of how we competed. Anytime you can go out and win three games out of four on the road is outstanding, especially in this conference. I'm hoping we can continue to compete and bring it around next weekend."
 
The Highlanders head to San Luis Obispo next weekend to take on Cal Poly, with game one taking place on Friday, April 23 at 5:00 PM.