Matadors Again at a Loss in Fresno, 12-8 : Baseball: CSUN yields six unearned runs in third, falls for eighth consecutive time at Beiden Field.

Cal State Northridge extended its streak of futility at Fresno State’s Beiden Field Saturday night in a 12-8 loss to the Bulldogs in a Western Athletic Conference baseball game.

The Matadors (18-17) have lost eight consecutive games at Fresno State since joining the WAC in 1993.

Northridge led, 1-0, in the third inning, when Fresno State (26-12, 9-5) scored six unearned runs off Matador starter John Najar (4-4), who once played for the Bulldogs.

Najar surrendered four hits and two home runs in the third inning. He pitched four innings, allowing nine hits and 10 runs--only four of them earned.

Fresno State didn’t trail after the third inning, scoring once in the fourth and five times in the fifth.

Northridge scored on Andy Shaw’s 12th homer in the first off Fresno’s Kevin Gunther (8-1).

The Matadors pulled to within 7-4 when Eric Gillespie hit a three-run homer in the fifth, then scored four more times in the eighth.

Gillespie hit his second home run of the game and third of the season in the eighth and Northridge added three runs on two walks, an error, singles by Jason Shanahan and Steve Moreno, and a double by Chad Thornhill.

Najar was relieved by Benito Flores in the fifth inning with three runs home and nobody out. Flores allowed four hits and two earned runs in two innings before giving way to Erasmo Ramirez in the seventh.

Gillespie finished with four hits and four RBIs, while Thornhill contributed three hits and Moreno had a pair of RBIs.