HAYWARD, Calif. -- After claiming victories in each of their last two series, the Cal State East Bay baseball team faces a tough task this weekend when they welcome in No. 11 Cal Poly Pomona for four games. The Pioneers and the California Collegiate Athletic Association-leading Broncos will open on Friday at 2 p.m., continue with a doubleheader Saturday at 11 a.m., and conclude the series with an 11 a.m. game on Sunday.
WEEKLY RECAP
East Bay went 4-1 this past week, including 2-0 away from Pioneer Field to even up their road record at 4-4. They beat Menlo 9-4 in a makeup game on Tuesday, racking up a season-high 15 hits as 10 different pitchers combined on the victory.
The Pioneers took on Cal State Stanislaus in a split-venue series over the weekend, and they kept the offensive momentum going in Friday's opener, scoring 13 runs in a blowout win. Ryan Kochan notched his second four-hit game of the season, and starting pitcher
Nick Hudson picked up his fourth win, which is tied for the CCAA lead.
The following day, the teams returned to Hayward and split a doubleheader with identical 4-1 scores. The Pioneers won the morning game behind a complete-game effort from
Sean Becker.
Brandon Alexander blasted the team's first home run of the season to right field, accounting for two of the senior's eight RBIs this past week. Stanislaus rallied to win the afternoon contest as the Pioneers could only muster four hits.
East Bay picked up a crucial road win on Sunday back in Turlock to capture the series over the Warriors.
Michael Pope pitched his best game of the season over eight innings as the team hung on for a 2-1 win.
PIONEER POINTS
East Bay is hitting .268 as a team with a .350 on-base percentage, and they're averaging 4.7 runs per game. The pitching staff ranks second in the conference in team ERA (3.02), opponents batting average (.234), and strikeouts per game (6.35).
Kochan is the CCAA's leading hitter with a .417 batting average. He's hitting .424 in conference play, and the junior has the fourth-best on-base percentage in the conference (.474).
Freshman Marcus Wise leads the CCAA and ranks fifth in the nation with 15 stolen bases. He's only been caught three times this year to lead a Pioneer squad that is tops in the conference with 30 steals as a team.
Alexander is East Bay's second-leading hitter with a .328 average. He currently ranks fourth in the CCAA in RBI (18), doubles (7), and extra base hits (8).
Becker has pitched the most innings in the conference this season at 39.1, but he has issued just three walks. The senior has a team-best 2.06 ERA for the season. For his career, Becker has an ERA of 2.15 in 138.0 innings, which would be the lowest in school history.
Ben O'Bryan ranks third in the CCAA with 29 strikeouts in 26.2 innings. The senior has allowed just 13 hits this season, holding opponents to a .149 average.
WHERE DO WE STAND
The Pioneers are currently in seventh place in the CCAA with a 6-6 record, but they're just two games behind second-place UC San Deigo at 8-4. East Bay was ranked No. 5 in the West Region in the latest National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) poll, which is up one spot from last week and the highest they've been ranked this season.
SCOUTING THE BRONCOS
Cal Poly Pomona has one of the best records in the nation at 17-4, and they won three out of four against Cal State L.A. last weekend. The Broncos lead the conference in batting average (.298) and slugging (.384). They're getting big offensive seasons from Joseph Eusebio (.349 avg, .402 obp, 7 doubles), Chris Carlson (.321 avg, 18 RBI), Matt Munoz (.293 avg, .414 obp) and David Armendariz (.341 avg, 8 doubles), who leads the league in home runs (4) and RBI (25). CPP's pitching staff has a 3.25 ERA, and Cody Ponce (2-1, 1.11 ERA, 32.1 IP), Max Bethel (4-2, 4.32 ERA, 33.1 IP), and Steven Farnworth (2-0, 4.75 ERA, 30.1 I) have been the team's top starters.
