Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 HAYWARD, Calif. -- Last Friday, the Cal State East Bay and Menlo College baseball teams played three innings of a scheduled doubleheader before rain suspended the game. After nearly a week of wet weather, the teams were finally back in action on Wednesday. The Oaks (7-1) closed out a well-pitched first game with a 2-1 victory, handing East Bay its first loss of the season, but the Pioneers (3-1) rallied to take the second game 6-5, earning a split. 

Game 1 -- Menlo 2, CSUEB 1

Senior Sean Becker started the first game on the mound last Friday, allowing two earned runs over three innings before play was stopped. The Pioneers scored a run of their own on an RBI triple by Eren Miravalles in the bottom of the third. Play resumed this morning in the top of the fourth inning with Menlo leading 2-1, and the Pioneers gave the ball to junior Michael Pope for his first outing of the year.

Pope worked two perfect innings, recording one strikeout, before handing things over to left-hander Bryce Vidmar, who tossed a scoreless sixth inning. Newcomer Julian Garcia came in next and gave up one hit while striking out three in two scoreless frames. He was followed by senior Chris Schmalz, who threw the ninth inning without allowing a run. All in all, the Pioneer bullpen pitched six shutout innings to close out the first game and allowed just one hit and one walk. 

Unfortunately for East Bay, Menlo's hurler was just as dominant. It took Daniel Chavez 68 pitches to get through three innings last Friday, but he was well rested to resume play today. The right-hander finished off the game with six scoreless frames, earning a complete game three-hit victory. The Pioneers did threaten in the ninth, but left the tying and go-ahed runs on second and third to end the game.

Marcus Wise and Ellis Stephney each recorded a hit for the Pioneers, and Brandon Alexander reached base twice on a pair of walks. As a pitcher of record, Becker (1-1) suffered his first defeat of the season.

Game 2 -- CSUEB 6, Menlo 5

The second game was a tight, back-and-forth contest, although it took both teams a few innings before they could put anything together offensively. Junior transfer Brian Bynum got the start on the mound for the Pioneers -- his first appearance in an East Bay uniform -- and got off to a good start with three scoreless innings. 

The right-hander ran into trouble in the fourth as the Oak bats came alive with a couple of big flies. With two outs and nobody on base, clean-up hitter Alex Boucher laced a line-drive home run over the left field wall to put Menlo up 1-0. Two batters later, Aaron Suarez-Lopez cranked a two-run shot to almost the same exact location, and the Oaks were quickly ahead 3-0.

The Pioneers answered back -- as they would several times in this game -- with a run in the bottom of the inning. Kelly Starnes led off with an infield single, and Alexander followed with a walk. After a balk advanced the runners, Stephney plated the first East Bay run with an RBI ground out.

Junior Bryan Webster made his second appearance of the year in relief of Bynum to start the fifth and had some early control issues. Two walks and a single loaded the bases with no outs, but Webster was able to minimize the damage. After a sac fly plated one run, he got Daniel Comstock, Menlo's best hitter, to ground into an inning-ending double play.

Trailing 4-1, the Pioneers once again came back and loaded the bases with one out thanks to two walks and a double by Tyler Buchanan. They scored one run on a sacrifice fly by Starnes and plated another when the Menlo catcher threw the ball into centerfield on a steal attempt by Wise. 

Senior Taylor Kruger followed Webster out of the Pioneer bullpen and tossed a scoreless sixth inning to keep the deficit at 4-3. After East Bay left two runners on base in the sixth, Kruger came back out for the seventh inning. He threw well, but an error, an infield hit, and a sac fly gave the Oaks their fifth run.

However, the Pioneers bats got that run right back in the bottom of the seventh. Zac Chuvala led off with a double to left, and Starnes knocked him in with a single through the left side of the infield. Junior Kevin Richards saw his first action of 2014 when he came into pitch the top of the eighth inning. Richards disposed of the Oaks in short order, getting Nate Harris to ground into a double play.

East Bay still trailed by a run going into the bottom of the eighth, but that wouldn't last long. Stephney reached on an error by the third baseman to lead off the inning. After he stole second base, Fletcher brought him home with a base hit to right field. The Pioneers got another base runner thanks to a throwing error by the catcher on a sacrifice bunt attempt by Chacho Madrigal, and they took a 6-5 lead on Buchanan's sac fly to center.

Head coach Bob Ralston turned to Fletcher to close out the game on the hill, and the junior pitched around a single and an error to earn his first career save. Richards (1-0) picked up the win in relief, his first as a Pioneer.

Fletcher finished 3-for-4 at the dish and is now 6-for-8 to start the season. Starnes had two hits and two RBI, and Chuvala and Alexander were on base two times each with a walk and a hit.

The Pioneers have won three out of four to start the season, but they have yet to play a Division II opponent. That will end in less than 48 hours as the team hits the road to open California Collegiate Athletic Assocation play on Friday afternoon against Cal State San Bernardino.