HAYWARD, Calif. — The Pioneer baseball team will play its final home games of the season this weekend as part of a four-game series with San Francisco State. With only eight games remaining in the regular season and the playoffs very much within reach, every game is crucial. Cal State East Bay opens the series against the Gators at home with a 3 p.m. game Friday afternoon. The teams then cross the bridge to play a doubleheader on Saturday at 11 a.m. before returning to Hayward on Sunday for the 11 a.m. series finale.

CELEBRATING THE SENIORS
Sunday is Senior Day, and Pioneer Athletics will be holding a brief ceremony to honor this year's seniors and their families prior to the first pitch. CSUEB will also have a free ice cream sundae station for all fans in attendance. The seniors who will be playing their final East Bay home game on Sunday are: David Castillo, Ryan Devencenzi, Matt Fontaine, Bryson Nakamura, Andrew Rodriguez, Charlie Sharrer, Kenny Uyetake, Jordan Wilder, Zachary Wong, and Kyle Zozaya.

WEEKEND RECAP
The Pioneers won three out of four games last weekend against visiting Cal State Dominguez Hills. Fontaine tossed a complete game as they beat the Toros 5-2 in the opener. The Pioneers then split the doubleheader on Saturday, although they were one out away from a sweep. Sean Becker went the distance for the fifth time this year and picked up his seventh win as East Bay won 7-3 in the morning game. The Pioneers couldn't hang onto a one-run lead in the nightcap and ended up losing 5-4, wasting a two-home run effort by Chris Porter. In a must-win game on Sunday, CSUEB outlasted the Toros 9-8 in a slugfest. Eren Miravalles won the game for the Pioneers with a walk-off single in the ninth inning.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Chris Porter (C, Fr.) – Several Pioneer batters had good series at the plate, but no one did more with his playing time than Porter. The freshman got the start behind the plate in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader and accounted for the entirety of the East Bay offense. He came up to bat trailing 2-0 in the fourth and jacked a three-run homer to left, his first as a Pioneer, to give them the lead. In his next at bat in the sixth inning, Porter broke a 3-3 tie with an absolute bomb high up into the trees beyond Pioneer Field. He finished the game (and the series) 2-for-3 with four RBI.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Matt Fontaine (RHP, Sr.) – The Tracy native pitched his best game as a Pioneer last Friday, allowing no earned runs in nine innings of work. He walked one and struck out 10, a career high. Fontaine came back on Sunday and got the win in relief. He got two big outs to escape a jam in the ninth inning and was the pitcher of record when Miravalles won it. Thanks to his 2-0 weekend, Fontaine was named CCAA Pitcher of the Week for Apr. 15-21.

TORO TAMERS
The Pioneers only hit .260 as a team against CSUDH, below their season average of .300. However, they drew 22 walks in four games. Shortstop Zac Chuvala led East Bay with a .455 batting average and .571 on-base percentage over the weekend. Outfielder Brandon Alexander hit. 357, while Miravalles led the squad with six hits in the series. Rodriguez batted .300 and paced the Pioneers with four runs scored and four walks. Junior Ben O'Bryan pitched well in relief for East Bay, throwing four scoreless innings over two appearances. He allowed two hits and struck out six.

CCAA STANDINGS
The Pioneers are having their best season since joining the CCAA. But with only the top four teams getting bids to the postseason tournament, they're currently on the outside of the playoffs looking in. East Bay will have to make up two games over the next two weeks on Sonoma State, which plays No. 6 Chico State this weekend.

Rank	School	CCAA Record	Pct.	Overall Record
1.	#6 Chico State	25-7	.781	32-8
2.	#25 Cal State L.A	23-9	.719	26-16
3.	#12 Cal State Monterey Bay	22-10	.688	30-12
4.	#30 Sonoma State	19-13	.594	27-15
5.	Cal State East Bay	17-15	.531	27-15
6.	UC San Diego	16-16	.500	22-20
7.	Cal State Dominguez Hills	16-16	.500	20-21
8.	Cal Poly Pomona	16-20	.444	24-22
9.	San Francisco State	12-24	.333	15-29
10.	Cal State San Bernardino	9-23	.281	15-25
11.	Cal State Stanislaus	5-27	.156	10-32

NCBWA WEST REGION TOP 10
The series victory over the Toros moved CSUEB up one spot in this week's National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association rankings. Currently five of the top six teams in the West hail from the CCAA.

Rank	School (1st place votes)	Record	Vote Points	Last Week's Rank
1.	#6 Chico State (4)	32-8	49 pts	1st
2.	#12 Cal State Monterey Bay	30-12	45 pts	5th
3.	#14 Grand Canyon	32-11	40 pts	3rd
4.	#25 Cal State L.A.	26-16	35 pts	2nd
5.	Cal State East Bay	27-15	27 pts	6th
6.	#30 Sonoma State	27-15	24 pts	7th
7.	Dixie State	27-13	22 pts	4th
8.	Cal Baptist	28-14	18 pts	8th
9.	Hawaii Pacific	27-15	7 pts	RV
10.	Central Washington	25-16	5 pts	RV

Also receiving votes: Western Oregon (25-17), 2 pts; Point Loma Nazarene (25-20), 1 pt.

SCOUTING SF STATE
The Gators are in ninth place in the conference after splitting their series last weekend at Cal State San Bernardino. They're seventh in the CCAA with a .262 team batting average and ninth with a 4.25 team ERA. Miguel Flores (.344 avg, .432 obp) and Grady Espinosa (.343 avg, .405 obp) are leading the Gators in virtually every offensive category. Espinosa tops the CCAA with 59 hits and ranks fourth with 14 stolen bases. Nolan Sheridan (5-1, 3.00 ERA, 48.0 IP), Zach Malik (2-6, 3.45 ERA, 62.2 IP), Ryan De Jesus (2-2, 3.47 ERA, 59.2 IP), and Peter Reyes (3.08 ERA, 5 SV) are the top pitchers for SF State. The Pioneers and Gators split their series last season, with both teams winning twice at home.