HAYWARD, Calif. — After eight straight games on the road, the Pioneer baseball team is back home this weekend for a crucial CCAA series against visiting Cal State Dominguez Hills. Cal State East Bay currently sits one game behind the Toros and two games out of a postseason spot. The Pioneers have lost four in a row, a season high, but they're 19-4 at home. The series begins Friday at 3 p.m., continues with a doubleheader Saturday starting at 11 a.m., and concludes with the finale at 11 a.m. on Sunday.

WEEKEND RECAP
The Pioneers suffered their first series sweep of the season on the road last week at No. 12 Cal State L.A. Two of the games were particularly crushing losses, including the opener on Friday night. Both Pioneer starter Matt Fontaine and Golden Eagle ace Jordan Sechler pitched well, going eight innings and allowing four runs. Kyle Zozaya and David Elzig each had a three hits and an RBI, but neither team could push across the winning run in regulation. It took until the 12th inning for L.A. to win the game 5-4 with an unearned run off Ben O'Bryan, who had given the Pioneers three innings of scoreless relief.

Saturday's first game was another well-pitched affair. Sean Becker had just two bad innings — a four-run first and a two-run homer in the fourth — in a complete game, but East Bay couldn't erase the deficit. After three Pioneer runs in the first, David Armas rattled off eight straight scoreless frames to secure the 6-3 victory for L.A.

The back end of the doubleheader was a slugfest, with the teams combining for 20 runs on 27 hits in just six and a half innings. L.A. put up six in the first and four more in the third, but the Pioneer offense kept answering back. East Bay got the tying run to the plate in the seventh inning, but came up short in an 11-9 loss.

The finale on Sunday appeared to mark a changing of the Pioneers' fortune as they jumped out to a 7-1 behind an outstanding effort from starting pitcher Nick Hudson. East Bay picked up a run in the eighth, and L.A. answered back with three against Hudson in the bottom of the inning. The Pioneers then turned the game over to their bullpen with a 9-4 lead in the ninth. But the Golden Eagles banged out five hits and three walks, tied the game on a grand slam by James Wharton, and walked off with the 10-9 win on a bunt single to complete the sweep. 

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Brandon Alexander (OF, Jr.) — The Oakley native takes this week's honors despite not being one of the five Pioneer batters to hit over .400 in the series. Alexander checked in at .389 (7-for-18) and led the team in runs (5), doubles (3), triples (1), slugging (.667), and total bases (12).

PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Nick Hudson (RHP, Jr.) — Close call, as both Hudson and Fontaine pitched 8.0 innings, allowed four runs, and took a no-decision. We'll give the nod to Hudson, who allowed one fewer hit, held the powerful CSULA offense to one run for the first seven innings, and gave his team an excellent chance to win when he exited.

HITTERS' HAVEN
Fast turf and friendly fences made for a high-scoring weekend in Los Angeles. The Pioneers hit .340 as a team with a .414 on-base percentage and 12 extra base hits. Unfortunately, the Golden Eagles batted .340 and narrowly outscored East Bay 32-25 in the four games.

David Castillo had a huge series for the second straight week. The senior catcher hit .455 with three RBI and a .625 obp in three games, raising his season batting average to .337. Fellow senior Charlie Sharrer led the team in hits (8) and doubles (3) over the weekend, improving his team-best batting average to .385.

Elzig went 7-for-17 (.412) in the series with two doubles, and Zozaya batted an even .400 with four runs scored and a team-best five RBI. Eren Miravalles had a big weekend batting leadoff, reaching base nine times in four games and hitting .368.

SPEED DEMONS
The Pioneers has an extremely successful weekend on the base paths against the Golden Eagles. They were 11-for-12 on the steal attempts in four games. Senior Andrew Rodriguez, who batted .417 in the series, led the way with five stolen bags in five attempts. He currently ranks third in the CCAA with 13 steals on the year. Miravalles was also perfect on stolen base tries over the weekend, going 3-for-3.

CCAA STANDINGS
The Pioneers have 12 games remaining on their schedule: four against CSUDH, four against San Francisco State, and four at Cal Poly Pomona. East Bay is currently in a heated battle for the fourth and final playoff spot, making this weekend's games crucial.

Rank	School	CCAA Record	Pct.	Overall Record
1.	#3 Chico State	23-5	.821	30-6
2.	#12 Cal State L.A	22-6	.786	25-13
3.	#28 Cal State Monterey Bay	18-10	.643	26-12
4.	Sonoma State	16-12	.571	24-14
5.	Cal State Dominguez Hills	15-13	.536	19-18
6.	Cal State East Bay	14-14	.500	24-14
7.	Cal Poly Pomona	16-16	.500	24-18
8.	UC San Diego	14-14	.500	20-18
9.	San Francisco State	10-22	.312	13-27
10.	Cal State San Bernardino	7-21	.250	13-23
11.	Cal State Stanislaus	5-27	.156	8-31

NCBWA WEST REGION TOP 10
The Pioneers fell two spots following the 0-4 week, while Cal State L.A. moved all the way up to No. 2 in this week's poll. East Bay has now been ranked in the top-10 for seven straight weeks.

Rank	School (1st place votes)	Record	Vote Points	Last Week's Rank
1.	#3 Chico State (5)	30-6	50 pts	1st
2.	#12 Cal State L.A.	25-13	40 pts	6th
3.	#15 Grand Canyon	30-9	38 pts	2nd
4.	#22 Dixie State	26-10	36 pts	5th
5.	#28 Cal State Monterey Bay	26-12	34 pts	3rd
6.	Cal State East Bay	24-14	21 pts	4th
7.	Sonoma State	24-14	19 pts	8th
8.	Cal Baptist	26-12	18 pts	7th
9.	Cal Poly Pomona	24-18	10 pts	9th
10.	Western Oregon	23-15	4 pts	RV

Also receiving votes: Hawaii Pacific (24-14), 3 pts; Central Washington (23-14), 2 pts.

TRACKING THE TOROS
Cal State Dominguez Hills has hovered right around .500 for most of this year. They're in the midst of 12 straight road games, and they won three out of four last week at SF State. The Toros are batting .264 as a team with a .366 obp and a 4.20 team ERA. (The Pioneers, meanwhile, are hitting .307/.373 with a 2.99 ERA). They run a lot on the bases, ranking second in the CCAA in team steals (52) and leading the conference in times caught stealing (26).

Ivory Thomas paces the Toros with a .358 batting average and .512 opb, which leads the CCAA. Shortstop Carlos Avila is hitting .313 with 15 RBI and a team-high 36 hits. First baseman Chris Allen tops the team with 19 RBI and eight extra base hits. Outfielder Kevin Logan ranks second in the CCAA in steals (17) and third in walks (27). Seniors Sean Wardour (6-3, 3.14 ERA, 63.0 IP), Dimitri Delafuente (2-3, 1.95 ERA, 2 SV, 50.2 IP), and Matt Montgomery (3-3, 4.60 ERA, 1 SV, 43.0 IP) are the top pitchers for Dominguez Hills. The Pioneers won three out of four against the Toros last year in Carson.