Game 1 box | Game 2 box

CARSON, Calif. – The Pioneers used clutch hitting and good pitching to sweep Cal State Dominguez Hills in a doubleheader on April 6. The scores were 8-3 and 8-7.

With the victories, the Pioneers improve to 7-16 in CCAA play and 13-20 for the season. Cal State Dominguez Hills drops to 6-17 in the CCAA and 10-21 overall.

“This was a good day for us,” Pioneer coach Bob Ralston said. “Our clutch hitting was the difference in the two wins.” We had a great comeback victory in the second game.” 

Trailing 3-0 after four innings in the second game, the Pioneers offense came alive in the next two innings.

With two on and two outs in the fifth inning, Andrew Woolfe had a RBI single. Jordan Wilder followed with a run-scoring base hit. Kyle Zozaya had a base hit to drive in the third run and Woolfe scored the fourth run in the inning on a fielding error.

In the sixth inning, Eddie Rettagliata and Erik Rowen had back-to-back singles. With two outs, Charlie Sharrer singled to drive in Rettagliata. Wilder followed with a three-run triple to give the Pioneers an 8-3 lead.

Matt Akiyama had a two-run single as the Toros scored four runs in the bottom of the six to trim the Pioneers' lead to 8-7.

Zachary Wong retired Carlos Avila with the tying run at secondbase for the final out of the game and complete the doubleheader sweep for the Pioneers.

The Toros opened the scoring with a run in the bottom of the first inning. Sako Chapjian doubled to drive in Avila who earlier walked.

Avila tripled and scored on a Chris Vopinek single to give Cal State Dominguez Hills a 2-0 lead after three innings.

The Toros added to their lead in the fourth inning as Chapjian's sacrifice fly scored Ray Patchen.

Wilder was 2-for-4 at the plate with four RBIs for the Pioneers. Woolfe, Zozaya, Rettagliata and Rowen all had two hits.

Pioneer starting hurler AJ Gallardo improved to 5-0 as he allowed five runs and two strikeouts in five innings of work. Wong halted a Toro's rally in the sixth and stranded the tying run at secondbase in the seventh to pick up his second save of the season. 

In the first game, East Bay received a tremendous performance from starting hurler Ben O'Bryan who improved to 2-2 for the season.

O'Bryan held a Toro team, who had scored 64 runs in their last six games, to a pair of runs, on six hits, five walks and six strikeouts in seven innings of work.

After giving up a first inning home run, O'Bryan blanked the Toros for the next six innings.

“Ben has been a consistent starter for us,” Ralston said. “He competes and gives us a chance to win every time he takes the mound.”

David Castillo and Rettagliata led a 14-hit Pioneer attack. Castillo was 4-for-5 with two runs scored. Rettagliata had three hits with two runs scored and drove in two runs. Jake Davis had two hits and scored twice to contribute to the Pioneer victory. Zozaya also had two hits and scored a run.

The Toros' Matthew Young led off the bottom of the first inning with a home run, his team-leading fourth homer of the season.

The Pioneers took the lead with three runs in the top of the second inning. With one out, Davis,  Rettagliata and Bryce Miller all singled to load the bases. Kenny Uyetake drew a walk to score Davis. Tanner Laran drove in Rettagliata with a base hit. Zozaya singled to knock in Miller with the third run of the inning. 

Castillo had a base hit and later scored on Rettagliata's single to give the Pioneers a 4-1 advantage in the third inning.

East Bay broke the game open with three runs in the fifth inning. With one out, Castillo singled, advanced to third on a Davis base hit. Both Castillo and Davis scored on Rettagliata's misplayed sacrifice bunt. Miller drove in Rettagliata with a sacrifice fly.

The Pioneers added another run in the sixth inning as Castillo's singled to drive in Zozaya.

The Toros added single runs in the seventh and ninth innings.

The four-game series will conclude on April 7 with a single contest at Toro Field. The first pitch is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. The April 7 game will be broadcast on the Pioneers Internet Network.  You can catch the Pioneers on www.waldcast.com. Click on "SportsJuice" link on left side of waldcast.com to access the game. Ronnie Wald, “The Dean of CCAA Broadcasting”, will do the play-by-play.