NORTHRIDGE — All the UCLA baseball team needed to boost its confidence was a short bus ride to the San Fernando Valley.

After dropping its opening weekend series to an inferior Maryland team at home, a low-stakes, Tuesday afternoon game at Cal State Northridge proved to be just what the doctor ordered.

First pitch came early, a 2 p.m. start because Matador Field is not equipped with lights. As the working world and academia trudged on, not many made the trip to see UCLA pound CSUN 19-7.

Whether anyone was there to see their first road win of the season, a win that bumped them to 2-2 on the year, didn’t matter to the No. 22 Bruins.

Fortunately for UCLA fans, the hot-and-cold Bruins offense was firing on Tuesday.

The Matadors (2-2) removed starter Brandon Warner before the third inning began, which proved to be the wrong decision. UCLA’s bats went off for an offensive explosion, the likes of which haven’t been seen this season or last.

“If you see the ball this well every day, you’re going to be successful,” junior right fielder Jeff Gelalich said. “We walk away from this one feeling really good.”

Junior catcher Tyler Heineman got things started with his first career home run, a two-run shot to the right. After Matador pitcher Harper White issued a couple of free passes, junior infielder Trevor Brown racked up three more RBIs with a triple to right-center field.

“It’s a good feeling when you don’t have pressure on your back every time you go up to the plate,” Heineman said. “You know that if you don’t get it done, the next guy is going to get it done.”

After the Matadors inched closer in the middle innings, the Bruins slammed the door with a nine-run eighth inning, totaling seven hits as they went once through the batting order within the inning. They kept the party going for so long the game was in danger of being called for darkness.

“I don’t think we were down on ourselves last week, but it never hurts to have a game like this,” Gelalich said. “It’s a step in the right direction for us. This is the direction we want to be heading. Everybody had really good at-bats today and the scoreboard shows that.”

Six different Bruins had at least two hits, while Gelalich had two home runs on the day. Freshman pitcher Grant Watson made his first collegiate start, but it didn’t come without a few hiccups. He hit two of the first three batters he faced in the first inning and loaded the bases with no one out in the third. He was pulled in the fourth inning after surrendering a pair of runs.

“It’s a tough ballpark,” UCLA coach John Savage said. “You can’t walk people, you can’t hit people, but we pitched out of some problems today; I was proud of Watson at times.”

Freshmen Zack Ortiz and David Berg, redshirt sophomore Ryan Deeter and junior Scott Griggs combined to finish the game in relief of Watson. Collectively, they kept CSUN off the board in the final four frames.

“Berg and Deeter and Griggs really settled the game down,” Savage said.