Box Score HAYWARD, Calif. — The Cal State East Bay baseball team won the opener of their four-game series with Cal State Stanislaus (4-8, 1-4 CCAA) by the score of 5-0 on Friday afternoon. Senior
Ben O'Bryan and junior
Nick Hudson combined on a four-hit shutout, giving the Pioneers their first Friday CCAA win in two years. East Bay (9-3, 2-3 CCAA) improves to 9-1 at home with the victory.
“It's big to get that first win on Friday,” said head coach
Bob Ralston after the game. “O'Bryan threw great. He was throwing strikes, and all his pitches were working.”
Indeed, the game featured excellent pitching for the first few frames, as O'Bryan squared off against Warrior ace Byron Lemon. It was all zeroes for three innings, before the Pioneers finally broke through and strung some hits together in the bottom of the fourth.
Jordan Wilder left off with a line drive single, and
Kyle Zozaya followed with an RBI double to left. After a ground out,
Naea Kalehuawehe chopped one up the middle, past the drawn-in infield to knock in the second run. After a walk,
Zac Chuvala made it 3-0 when he sliced a double down the third base line that just stayed fair.
Andrew Rodriguez tacked on the fourth East Bay run of the inning with an RBI ground out.
With a 4-0 lead, O'Bryan (2-1) settled down and cruised through the next three frames. He needed only 79 pitches to get through seven scoreless innings. The senior right-hander scattered four hits, walked one, and struck out five. He picked up his second win, which matches his season total from last year.
The Pioneers added a run in the bottom of the seventh on a towering, opposite field home run by
Brandon Alexander. The senior's first round-tripper in an East Bay uniform was an impressive display of power, just sneaking over the wall in left. Alexander was 2-for-4 in the game, also lacing a double to left-center to give him six total bases today.
Hudson came on in relief to start the eighth, and with the exception of an error, the right-hander tossed two perfect innings to close out the victory, notching three strikeouts.
Zozaya was 3-for-4 with a run and an RBI; he was the only player to post three hits in the game and now leads the Pioneers with a .364 average for the season. Wilder and Kalehuawehe each finished 2-for-4 for East Bay, and five different Pioneers knocked in a run in the game.
“We have a scrappy offensive group,” added Ralston, whose lineup racked up 10 hits this afternoon. “Our guys fight at the plate and put the ball in play. Today the results were good.”
The Pioneers continue their four-game series with the Warriors tomorrow in Turlock. The teams are scheduled for a doubleheader (one nine-inning game and one seven-inning game) starting at 11 a.m. The series finale on Sunday is back here at Pioneer Field, also set for 11 a.m.
