LOS ANGELES -- Cal State LA's baseball team returned home from a successful trip to Hawaii and was a bit too generous to a powerful Northwest Nazarene team.
The Golden Eagles allowed 20 hits and also issued 19 walks, five hit batters and eight wild pitches in a 31-3 loss to the Nighthawks. Northwest Nazarene, which reached the national semifinals last season and is ranked No. 7 in the country, hit three home runs and also had 10 doubles and one triple in the game.
Cal State LA (4-2) trailed 5-1 after three innings, but Northwest Nazarene (4-3) scored 20 runs over the next three innings to break the game wide open.
Kadyn Victorian went 2-for-3 with two runs scored for the Golden Eagles, while
Ben Lee,
Jace Paderez and
Adam Axtell drove in runs.
Jonathan Manuel got the start for the Golden Eagles and gave up six hits and seven earned runs in 3 1/3 innings. He walked five and struck out three.
Dillon Eden allowed four hits and only one earned run over 5 1/3 innings to improve to 2-0 for the Nighthawks. Carter Walsh had a huge game to lead Northwest Nazarene's 20-hit attack, going 3-for-7 with three runs scored and eight runs batted in. He was a triple short of the cycle. Max Paterson and Jake Mestas also hit home runs for the Nighthawks.
The two teams will continue a four-game series with a doubleheader on Friday beginning at 1 p.m.