DAVIS, Calif. — UC Davis baseball hits the road, as the Aggies travel to Northridge to take on the CSUN Matadors.

The scheduled series, initially set for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, has been revised due to weather conditions. Consequently, a double-header is now slated for Friday to accommodate the change.

GAME SCHEDULE (GAMES 24-26)
- Thursday, March 28 | 3:00 p.m. PT | ESPN+
- DH (1) Friday March 29 | 11:00 a.m. PT | Live Stats
- DH (2) Friday, March 29 | 40 minutes after | Live Stats

PROJECTED STARTERS
- Thursday: LHP Braydon Wooldridge vs. RHP Thomas Bainson
- DH (1) Friday: LHP Bryan Green vs. LHP Justin Vose
- DH (2) Friday: RHP Noel Valdez vs. TBD

ABOUT THE MATADORS
CSUN is led by last season's Big West Co-Field Player of the Year Jakob Simons with the Matadors entering the weekend with a 14-10 record. Simons with his nine homers on the year ranks 50th in the country while Kevin Fitzer leads the Matadors in batting average, hitting a team-high .363.

On the mound, CSUN leans on production from Thomas Bainton at the beginning of each series with his 34 strikeouts nearly doubling the nearest Matador in the strikeout category. Out of the bullpen, Joshua Romero is the go-to-guy for head coach Eddie Cornejo, as Romero has a Big West leading six wins.

LAST TIME OUT
UC Davis is coming off a pair of series wins, as the Aggies took care of business against both Sacramento State and UC San Diego. Against Sacramento State on Tuesday, UC Davis leaned on the production of their pitching staff, who added 12 strikeouts to help fuel a 3-2 win. Against UC San Diego, the pitching was also a bright spot, along with spectacular defense to help UC Davis win two out of three against the Tritons. In the series opener against UC San Diego on Saturday, the Aggies pitchers produced a combined shutout as both teams battled a rain storm. On Sunday, the Aggies fell to the Tritons 2-1. Noel Valdez put forth a quality start for the Aggies but UC Davis was unable to add on more to their early run total. In the series finale against the Tritons, it was an extra inning thriller that ended with an 11th inning walk-off hit from Jack Gallagher.

RED-HOT RILEY
Riley Acosta has been a focal point all season for UC Davis, as the junior currently leads the Aggies in batting average, doubles, slugging percentage, on-base percentage and OPS. Acosta has been able to lead the Aggies in these categories, all while being one of the toughest hitters in the Big West to strike out.

EXECUTION AT ITS FINEST
The Aggies have used a new offensive philosophy to supplement their run scoring. Ranking third in the country in sacrifice bunts, UC Davis has been using every available opportunity to put players in scoring position and put pressure on opposing defenses. With 27 sacrifice bunts this season, Joey Wright leads all Aggies and ranks sixth in the country with six sacrifices. Five separate Aggies qualify to be ranked within the NCAA's minimum requirements for sacrifice bunts, a testament to the commitment from the entire team. A byproduct of the Aggies willingness to sacrifice bunt has resulted in hits on multiple occasions with the Aggies possessing more speed this year than in recent years.

TWO-WAY WOOLDRIDGE
One of the most competitive players on the team, Braydon Wooldridge has been doing it both on the mound, and at the plate. Delivering the game-tying double against UC Irvine last Sunday, Wooldridge eventually came in and closed the game out to secure the win. His pitching presence was again on display against UC San Diego, tossing 3.1 innings allowing no runs. He has a 1.00 ERA and will start on the hill against CSUN to begin the series this Thursday.

STEADY CONTRIBUTORS
While Wooldridge and Acosta provided some game-changing at bats in the UC Irvine series and are among the hardest outs in the UC Davis lineup, the group of Jason Hanson, Mark Wolbert, Alex Gouveia, Nick Leehey, and Ryan Lee have been steady all season in their contributions.

Wolbert and Gouveia are owners of the two longest hitting streaks this season, both of which were recently snapped with Wolbert having a 10 game streak at one point, while Gouveia's was at nine games.

Gouveia ranks second in the Big West and 10th in the country in toughest to strike out, only punching out five times in a whopping 90 at-bats.

Ryan Lee is the hottest hitting out of the bunch, going 2-for-3 against Sacramento State and 1-for-3 against UC San Diego in Monday's series finale.

DEFENDING DOBBINS
The Aggies in their short amount of games this season, have shown to rise to the occasion when it comes to defending Dobbins Stadium. In twelve games this season, the Aggies are 9-3 at home, highlighted by their series wins over BYU, Seattle U, and UC San Diego.

EXPERIENCED LINEUP
UC Davis returns a very experienced group of players, with 29 returners on the roster. On any given day, UC Davis more likely than not, features at least seven returners who have started games in past seasons with the exceptions being Jason Hanson, Ethan Felix, and Tyler Howard also registering starts on regular occasions.

DRAFT NOTES
D1Baseball listed both Mark Wolbert and Joey Wright as potential prospects for UC Davis in the next few years. A promising prospect who entered last season tabbed as the top MLB Draft prospect in the Big West, Wolbert this preseason was slotted as the 16th ranked prospect in the Big West by D1Baseball for the 2024 MLB Draft class. D1Baseball also listed Wright as the seventh ranked Big West prospect in the 2025 MLB Draft class.

AGGIE PRESEASON PREDICTION
UC Davis was picked to finish ninth in the Big West Preseason Team Poll and will look to improve on their 17-37 record from a season ago.

UP NEXT
The Aggies will host Hawai'i for a three-game set beginning on April 5th after their series against CSUN this weekend.