HAYWARD, Calif. — The Cal State East Bay baseball team continues CCAA play with four games against Cal State Stanislaus this weekend. Similar to last week, the two Northern California rivals will play a home-and-home series, as the Pioneers look to defeat the Warriors in a series for the first time since joining the conference. East Bay will host the games on Friday (2 p.m.) and Sunday (11 a.m.) at Pioneer Field, with an 11 a.m. road doubleheader scheduled for Saturday in Turlock.

“We are looking forward to the challenge of facing another quality conference opponent this weekend,” said head coach Bob Ralston. “Stanislaus always has strong pitching.”

WEEKEND RECAP
The Pioneers suffered their first defeats of the season last weekend after a 7-0 start. In the CCAA opener at Cal State Monterey Bay, the Otters put up seven runs in the sixth inning on their way to an 8-5 win. Charlie Sharrer had two hits for East Bay in the loss, and Andrew Rodriguez drove in a pair of runs.

On Saturday, the teams were in Hayward for a doubleheader at Pioneer Field. East Bay evened the series with an 8-3 win in game one, thanks to three hits and five RBI from Naea Kalehuawehe, who currently leads the team in the latter category. Starter Michael Pope improved to 3-0 with six solid innings. The Pioneer bats didn't fair as well in the afternoon against CSUMB ace Jeff Owen. He outdueled senior Matt Fontaine in a 3-1 Otter victory. Both pitchers threw complete games in the seven-inning affair, and shortstop Zac Chuvala went 2-for-3 to lead the Pioneers.

Monterey Bay captured the series on Sunday with a 5-3 win in Seaside in a game that featured six defensive errors and four unearned runs. Senior catcher David Castillo was 3-for-4 for the Pioneers in the loss, the fourth three-hit game of his East Bay career. 

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Zac Chuvala (INF, Jr.) — The slick-fielding shortstop had a big weekend at the plate in his first conference series as a Pioneer. Chuvala led East Bay with six hits, nine total bases, and a .429 batting average in the four games. He was 4-for-7 with a double and a triple in the doubleheader on Saturday, helping the Pioneers to their lone win of the series.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Charlie Sharrer (RHP, Sr.) — Sharrer recorded an old-school three-inning save to lock down East Bay's 8-3 win over the Otters on Saturday. He allowed two hits in three scoreless innings, striking out three. The hard-throwing senior has been nearly perfect in his three outings this year, striking out 10 in 7.2 scoreless frames to earn three saves. 

HIGH RANKING HURLERS
It was a disappointing opening weekend in terms of wins and losses, but the Pioneers have nonetheless been impressive in some areas, most notably the pitching staff. After 11 games, East Bay ranks third in the conference with a 2.52 team ERA and second with a .198 opponents' batting average.

Pope is one of five pitchers in the CCAA to post a 3-0 record so far this season. The right-hander also ranks third in the conference with 19 strikeouts in 17.0 innings of work. Sharrer's three saves also leads the CCAA through three weeks of games.

STRONG UP THE MIDDLE
The four Pioneers up the middle — Castillo (.333 avg), Chuvala (.342), center fielder Rodriguez (.317), and second baseman Eren Miravalles (.342) — have also been the team's four leading hitters this season. Miravalles paces the Pioneers with a .435 on-base percentage batting in the three-hole.

The group has also been impressive defensively. Miravelles leads the CCAA with 38 assists and has the best fielding percentage (.966) of any infielder with at least 40 defensive chances. Chuvala also ranks in the top-10 in assists, and despite a difficult home infield, the pair has committed just two errors each.

The catching corps, led by Castillo, senior Kyle Zozaya, and junior Chris Porter, has also been a weapon for the Pioneers in run prevention. The East Bay backstops have not made an error this season, and they have allowed just three stolen bases all year, the fewest in the CCAA. 

THEFT ARTISTS
A pair of Pioneers has had substantially more success on the base paths than the team's opponents so far. Rodriguez (7-for-8 in steals) and Jordan Wilder (5-for-6) rank second and third in the CCAA in stolen bases this year. The two are also tied for the team lead with seven bases on balls.

SCOUTING STANISLAUS
The Warriors have lost five of their last six games, including three of four last weekend at UC San Diego. They're a solid pitching team, ranking just behind the Pioneers in team ERA (2.68) and opponents' batting average (.206). The issue for Stanislaus has been run scoring, where they rank next-to-last in the CCAA. They hit just .227 as a team with a .318 on-base percentage, but they do lead the conference in sacrifice bunts. Senior OF Craig Beevers is the Warriors' top hitter, batting .308 with a .400 OBP and six runs to lead the team. All four of CSUS's starting pitchers for this weekend have ERAs under 3.00, led by Jeremy McDonald at 1.29, who will be making his first start of the season on Sunday. Friday starter Byron Lemon is the staff ace, having tossed 20.2 innings with a complete game and a .178 opponents' batting average in three starts. The Pioneers have dropped three out of four from the Warriors each of the past two seasons.