Box Score HAYWARD, Calif. — The Pioneer baseball team was blanked 3-0 by No. 4 Chico State at home on Sunday, giving them a four-game split for the series. Cal State East Bay (19-8, 12-8 CCAA) managed just two hits against Wildcat starter Kagen Hopkins. Chico State (15-5, 8-4 CCAA) outscored the Pioneers 17-5 in the series, but solid pitching and defense gave East Bay a satisfying 2-2 weekend.
“This was a hard-fought series,” said head coach
Bob Ralston after the game. “Chico is outstanding on the mound, every at bat is a battle. Ultimately, they pitched well all series, and we pitched well all series, so we'll take a split.”
Junior
Nick Hudson got the start on the mound for the Pioneers and did a nice job keeping them in the game. The Wildcats threatened first, putting two on with one out in the third against Hudson. They pushed across one run with a sacrifice fly, but he was able to get out of the inning after that.
Chico used a walk, a sac bunt, and a base hit up the middle by Austin Prott to make it 2-0 in the fifth. Myles Dempsey then tacked on the third Wildcat run with a solo home run to left an inning later.
That was all Chico would get against Hudson (1-1), who lasted 6.0 innings. The Pioneer right-hander surrendered three earned runs on six hits and issued three walks, suffering his first loss of the season.
Three turned out to be plenty of runs for Hopkins, who was at the top of his game on Sunday. He improved to 3-0 with the complete game effort, allowing two walks and striking out eight.
Senior
Charlie Sharrer pitched three scoreless innings to close out the game for East Bay. He gave up a hit and a walk and struck out two in his only outing of the weekend.
Brandon Alexander (1-for-4 with an excellent drag bunt) and
Zac Chuvala (1-for-3) had the only hits for the Pioneers today.
“There's a tough opponent every week in this conference,” added Ralston. “We're holding our own against some really good teams right now, hopefully we can keep it going.”
The Pioneers have a week off from CCAA play as they prepare for a home-and-home series with Holy Names. The team will travel on Oakland for a Friday afternoon game before returning to Hayward to host a doubleheader at 11 a.m. Saturday.
