The WSU baseball team lost to the California State University Northridge Matadors 3-1 Monday.

This is the Cougars third straight loss after starting the season off with a win Friday.

Junior pitcher Tanner West started the game for the Cougars. He pitched five innings, allowing two runs and striking out three batters. Junior pitcher Hayden Rosenkrantz pitched an inning of relief, allowing another run. Senior pitcher Owen Leonard pitched the final inning, striking out two of the three batters he faced.

In the third inning, sophomore designated hitter Kyle Mazardo got on base after an error by CSUN’s redshirt junior shortstop Carlos Arellano. Junior first baseman Jack Smith followed Mazardo with a single, advancing Mazardo to second.

Two batters later, redshirt sophomore left fielder RJ Lan hit a single to left field, allowing Mazardo to score and put the Cougars up 1-0.

The Matadors answered the Cougars in the fourth with a home run by Jayson Newman, redshirt senior designated hitter.

In the fifth, an overthrow on a pickoff attempt by West allowed runners to advance to second and third base. Two pitches later, CSUN redshirt senior third baseman Jose Ruiz, grounded out by fielder’s choice, but drove in a run putting the Matadors up 2-1.

The Matadors added another run in the bottom of the seventh inning. Ruiz tacked on another RBI single, allowing freshman second baseman Mason Le to put the Matadors up 3-1.

The Cougars travel to Hawaii to play a four-game series against the University of Hawai’i Rainbow Warriors next weekend. The first game of the series is at 8:35 p.m. PST at Les Murakami Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii.