HAYWARD, Calif. — The Pioneer baseball team wraps up one of the best regular seasons in program history with a four-game road series against Cal Poly Pomona this weekend. Cal State East Bay will look to improve upon a 7-10 road record, while the eighth-place Broncos will be trying to end a slightly disappointing season on a high note. The series starts Friday afternoon with a 3 p.m. game, continues with a doubleheader at 11 a.m. on Saturday, and concludes with the regular-season finale at 11 a.m. on Sunday.

HISTORIC SEASON
This Pioneer team has already posted the most total wins and most conference wins since CSUEB joined the CCAA, but they're close to an even more impressive milestone. With two victories this weekend, East Bay would match the school record of 32 wins, set back in 1977. As it stands currently, the Pioneers are only the second team in program history to reach 30 wins.

LEADERBOARD WATCH
One of the main reasons for the team's success in 2013 has been the pitching staff. Collectively, they're third in the CCAA and 13th in the nation with a 2.87 ERA. (Compare that to the ERAs from the last three seasons: 6.18, 5.26, and 4.46). The Pioneers have allowed 7.76 hits per game, which ranks ninth in the nation, and they have a team WHIP (walks plus hits per inning) of 1.21, which is 14th-best in the nation.

Junior Sean Becker (7-2) leads the CCAA with five complete games and 74.1 innings pitched in conference play. He also ranks seventh with a 2.11 ERA on the season. Senior Matt Fontaine (5-1) is fifth in the CCAA with a miniscule 1.66 ERA and also has three saves for the Pioneers. Sophomore Michael Pope (8-2) is tied for second in the conference in total wins.

East Bay is getting it done on offense as well. They're batting .298, fourth in the CCAA, with a .370 on-base percentage, which ranks fifth. Senior Kyle Zozaya ranks second in the conference in doubles (18) and RBI (41). Junior Brandon Alexander is batting .325 with a .411 obp and leads the CCAA with five triples this year.

WEEKEND RECAP
The final home series of the year was a good one for the Pioneers, who were shut out on Senior Day, but still defeated SF State in the series, 3-1. In the opener, Fontaine tossed a complete game and Bryson Nakamura had three hits and two RBI as CSUEB won 5-3 in Hayward.

The following day, the Pioneers pulled off a rare road doubleheader sweep. Becker gave them nine innings in the first game, but it took until the 11th for East Bay to break out with four runs to win 8-4. Four Pioneers posted three-hit games, led by senior Charlie Sharrer, who tied the game with a double in the seventh and finished with a game-high three RBI.

The team got its third straight outstanding pitching performance of the weekend on Saturday afternoon, as Pope nearly tossed a no-hitter in a seven-inning complete game effort. The Gators managed a single with one out in the seventh, but the Pioneers cruised to a 5-0 victory behind Pope's one-hit shutout. SF State freshman Nolan Sheridan then threw a one-hitter to beat CSUEB 3-0 on Sunday, earning himself CCAA Pitcher of the Week honors.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Brandon Alexander (OF, Jr.) – In the four games against SF State, Alexander led the Pioneers in batting average (.385), obp (.556), slugging (.615), hits (5), walks (5), runs (4), and total bases (8).

PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Michael Pope (RHP, So.) – Pope picked up his team-leading eighth win of the year, just two shy of the school record, with his one-hitter. He struck out six and walked four in his third complete game of the season. For the season, opponents are hitting just .206 against Pope, which leads the team. 

CCAA STANDINGS
Thanks to a four-game sweep of Chico State last week, Sonoma State extended its lead over the Pioneers to three games for the final playoff spot. The Pioneers need a lot of help from CSU Dominguez Hills, which hosts the Seawolves this weekend, in order to make a postseason push. Nonethless, fifth place would be East Bay's highest-ever finish in the CCAA.

Rank	School	CCAA Record	Pct.	Overall Record
1.	#6 Cal State Monterey Bay	26-10	.722	34-12
2.	#24 Cal State L.A	26-10	.722	29-17
3.	#21 Chico State	25-11	.694	32-12
4.	#16 Sonoma State	23-13	.639	31-15
5.	Cal State East Bay	20-16	.556	30-16
6.	UC San Diego	19-17	.528	25-21
7.	Cal State Dominguez Hills	17-19	.472	21-24
8.	Cal Poly Pomona	16-20	.444	24-22
9.	San Francisco State	13-27	.325	16-32
10.	Cal State San Bernardino	10-26	.278	16-28
11.	Cal State Stanislaus	5-31	.139	10-36

NCBWA WEST REGION TOP 10
For the ninth consecutive week, the Pioneers are ranked among the top 10 teams in the West by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers of America.

Rank	School (1st place votes)	Record	Vote Points	Last Week's Rank
1.	#6 Cal State Monterey Bay (5)	34-12	50 pts	2nd
2.	#16 Sonoma State	31-15	41 pts	6th
3.	#21 Chico State	32-12	39 pts	1st
4.	#24 Cal State L.A.	29-17	36 pts	4th
5.	#26 Grand Canyon	34-13	32 pts	3rd
6.	Cal State East Bay	30-16	26 pts	5th
7.	Cal Baptist	30-16	19 pts	8th
8.	Dixie State	29-15	17 pts	7th
9.	Western Oregon	27-18	8 pts	RV
10.	Hawaii Pacific	30-20	4 pts	9th

Also receiving votes: UC San Diego (25-21), 2 pts; Point Loma Nazarene (25-21), 1 pt.

NCAA WEST REGION RANKINGS
In preparation for tournament seeding, the NCAA has begun releasing its own regional rankings. This week, CSUEB is one of six CCAA teams to crack to the West Region Top-8.

Rank	School	Record
1.	#6 Cal State Monterey Bay	34-12
2.	#16 Sonoma State	31-15
3.	#26 Grand Canyon	34-13
4.	Dixie State	29-15
5.	#21 Chico State	32-12
6.	UC San Diego	25-21
7.	#24 Cal State L.A.	29-17
8.	Cal State East Bay	30-16

SCOUTING THE BRONCOS
Cal Poly Pomona had a bye last weekend after getting swept on the road by Cal State Monterey Bay the week before. The Broncos are arguably the best offense in the conference; they lead the CCAA in batting average (.314) and hits and rank second in obp (.385) and runs scored. CPP has six regulars batting over .320 for the season: Bo Walter (.346), Trevor Magno (.341), Jason Padio (.340), Donald Walter (.333), Joseph Eusebio (.328), and Jordan Whitman (.339), who also ranks second in the CCAA with 33 RBI in conference games.

The Bronco pitching staff has a team ERA of 4.25. Ace Kevin Bosson (8-5, 2.85 ERA) is third in the CCAA in innings pitched. Ryan Dunn (4-2, 2.50 ERA), Max Bethell (4-5, 5.10 ERA), and Cody Ponce (4-2, 2.30 ERA, 6 SV) are the other tops hurlers for Cal Poly Pomona. The Pioneers were swept at home in four games by the Broncos last year and hold an 11-21 record against them all-time.