NORTHRIDGE, Calif. — The hot streak the East Carolina baseball team carried to California was cooled off quickly in a 5-3 loss at Cal State Northridge Wednesday night.

The Pirates, who rallied to win all three of its games last weekend in the Keith LeClair Classic, could not muster a comeback against CSUN, as the host Matadors smashed an early 2-1 deficit with one big swing of the bat and then held the Pirates scoreless for six innings until ECU scratched out one more tally in the top of the ninth.

The ECU loss halted a five-game winning streak.

CSUN (6-5) put ECU (7-4) on the ropes in the bottom of the fourth when Drew Muren smashed a grand slam that erased the Pirates’ 2-1 edge and made it 5-2 Matadors.

C.J. Belanger and Nate Ring singled with one out and T.S. Reed walked to load the bases. After an infield popout registered the second out, Muren took Armstrong deep to right for the game’s decisive blow.

After that, the Pirates had just one hit, a harmless single up the middle by Dustin Harrington in the fifth inning.

CSUN reliever Billy Ott earned the win after taking the mound early in the second inning and throwing six scoreless innings.

ECU starter Shawn Armstrong took the loss, allowing all five Matador runs in five innings of work.

Trent Whitehead and Harrington traded leadoff singles in the top of the first inning to put CSUN starter Bennett Parry in an immediate jam. Whitehead scored from third when Kyle Roller, who reached on a fielder’s choice, was thrown out trying to steal second, putting the Pirates in the lead, 1-0.

Harrington was 2-for-4, and extended his personal hitting streak to 19 games.

Armstrong encountered trouble of his own in the first, as the Matadors knotted the score by way of Dominic D’Anna’s two-out RBI double to left-center. Armstrong got the first two outs in order, but then hit slugger Ryan Pineda with a pitch to extend the inning and bring D’Anna to the plate.

The Pirates nudged their way back in front in the top of the second when Cam Freeman went station to station — walking, then advancing on a botched pickoff play and taking third on a wild pitch from Ott. He scored on Devin Harris’ RBI groundout to make it 2-1 Pirates.

ECU stays in California to take on Pepperdine beginning tonight.