LAS VEGAS, Nev. – The Vikings dropped their first two games at the DeMarini Desert Classic Friday in Las Vegas, Nev. Portland State fell to CSUN, 16-12, to open the week before falling to Colorado State, 9-1 in five innings, later in the day.
 
Junior C Alex Flores had a career game to open the week against the Matadors. Flores posted a career-high four hits, going 4-for-4, with two runs scored and a career-high five runs batted in. Two of Flores' RBIs came on her first home run of the season, third of her career.
 
Senior OF Lexi Goranson went 3-for-5 on the day with a run batted in and was the only Viking to hit safely in both games on the day.
 
Game 1 – CSUN 16, Portland State 12
 
The Vikings got off to a rough start in their first game of the day. The CSUN Matadors jumped out to an early 1-0 lead with back-to-back doubles off Portland State starting pitcher Meagan Hendrix.
 
Portland State tied the game in the bottom of the first after Brianna Celaya reached via a hit by pitch to lead off the inning. She later came around to score on a sacrifice fly to center field off the bat of Katherine Kramer.
 
The inning quickly got away from Hendrix in the second. The first five batters all reached base on a trio of hits, another HBP, and a Portland State error. All five would eventually score as the Matadors retook the lead, 6-1, heading to the bottom of the second.
 
After the Vikings were unable to get anything going in their half of the inning, the Matadors added six runs in the top of the third, chasing Hendrix out of the game. Karyn Wright came on in relief with two runners on and one out in the inning. A two-run single, and error, and a three-run home run by CSUN plated three more runs as the Matadors took a commanding 12-1 lead.
 
After the Vikings did not do anything in the bottom of the third, Wright held the Matadors scoreless in the top of the fourth.
 
Kortney Craker and Flores started the bottom of the fourth off with back-to-back singles. After an infield pop out, Candice Orozco doubled to drive in Craker from second. Flores came around to score on a groundout for the second out of the inning. The Vikings then strung together four-straight hits and a hit by pitch to plate five more runs and load the bases. Flores picked up her second hit of the inning to drive in two more runs.
 
Portland State's seven-run fourth inning cut the lead to 12-8 through four innings. The Vikings had a great chance to further cut into the lead in the bottom of the fifth with the bases loaded and one out. A fielder's choice cut down the Vikings' lead runner at the plate for the second out. An infield pop out ended the Vikings' scoring opportunity.
 
CSUN turned its defensive momentum from the previous half inning, into offensive production with its second three-run home run off of Wright to extend its lead to 15-8.
 
The Vikings got two runs back in the bottom of the inning with Flores' first home run of the season, a two-run shot to bring the score to 15-10 in favor of the Matadors.
 
CSUN added a run in the top of the seventh to go up 16-10 before the Vikings added two runs in the bottom of the seventh on a sacrifice fly from Flores and a pinch hit RBI single by freshman Kayla Morrow, but the Vikings could not overcome the deficit and fell 16-12.
 
Five Vikings recorded multiple hits in the game, led by Flores' 4-for-4 game. Hendrix picked up the loss, falling to 0-2 on the season.

"Our team showed a lot of resilience today after going down 12-1 against CSUN," third-year Head Coach Barb Sherwood said. "To score as many runs as we did to get back into the game was remarkable."
 
Game 2 – Colorado State 9, Portland State 0 (5 innings)
 
The score remained scoreless through the first three innings of the Vikings' second game of the day against Colorado State. Goranson picked up the game's first hit with a single in the bottom of the third.
 
Unfortunately for the Vikings, that would be the only hit that they would get in the game.
 
Portland State starting pitcher Kristen Crawford, got into trouble in the bottom of the fourth inning as Colorado State plated six runs on four hits and one Portland State error to go up 6-0.
 
Crawford got two out in the bottom of the fifth before a three-run home run put the Rams up 9-0, ending the game via the run rule.

"It was a tough day at the office," Sherwood added about the loss to Colorado State. "The nice thing is we have a chance to bounce back with a pair of games tomorrow."
 
Portland State will play two more games at the Desert Classic Saturday. The Vikings will take on Nevada at 9 a.m. PT before taking on San Jose State at 3:45 p.m.