Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 HAYWARD, Calif. -- Cal State East Bay senior
Sean Becker pitched a complete game to lead the Pioneer baseball team to a 4-1 win over visiting Cal State Stanislaus in the first game of Saturday's dubleheader. The Warriors (6-11, 2-8 CCAA) topped the Pioneers (11-8, 5-6 CCAA) in the second game by the same 4-1 score to earn a split on a beautiful day in the Hayward hills.
"There was some pretty good pitching out there today," said head coach
Bob Ralston. "We were able to put ourselves in a position to win the series tomorrow, so ultimately we're happy about that. Every day is a battle in this league."
East Bay and Stanislaus will conclude their four-game CCAA series with an 11 a.m. game Sunday morning in Turlock. The Pioneers will be looking to even up both their conference record and their road record, which sits at 3-4.
Game 1 -- East Bay 4, Stanislaus 1
The first game of the day started off as an excellent pitcher's duel, as both starting pitchers breezed through the first four innings without allowing a run.
The Warriors struck first thanks to a defensive miscue by the home team. With one out and a runner on second in the fifth inning, CSUS leadoff man Skippy Ferreria tried to steal third base, and the throw from catcher
Tyler Buchanan got away from Ryan Kochan at third, allowing Ferreria to score the unearned run.
Buchanan returned the favor as the Pioneers managed to tie the game an inning later. He led off with a single, moved up on a wild pitch, and went to third on Chuvala's sacrifice bunt. Marcus Wise then lined a base hit up the middle to make it 1-1.
The Pioneers played some small ball in the seventh inning to grab the lead for good. Jason Fletcher led off with a walk, and Daniel Carney bunted him to second. After Kelly Starnes beat out his bunt attempt to put runners on the corners, Buchanan put East Bay ahead 2-1 with a sacrifice fly to left.
That was all Becker would need. The senior was as sharp as he's been all year, allowing no earned runs on seven hits over nine innings. He struck out seven and issued one walk, just his third in 39.1 innings this season. Becker improved to 3-1 with the win and lowered his ERA to a team-best 2.06.
Brandon Alexander gave East Bay some insurance when he blasted a two-run homer to right in the bottom of the eighth inning. It was the first round-tripper by a Pioneer batter this season.
Wise finished 2-for-4 with a double out of the leadoff spot.
Game 2 -- Stanislaus 4, East Bay 1
The second game was simiarly low-scoring, but the Pioneers couldn't muster the rally they needed to win the game in the late innings. The Warriors grabbed the lead for the third game in a row with runs in each of the first two innings against East Bay starter
Ben O'Bryan.
Stanislaus put runners on the corners with one out in the first, and East Bay wasn't quite able to turn a double play on a chopper towards the middle. The run that scored broke a streak of 14 straight scoreless innings by O'Bryan. A two-out base hit by Ferreria an inning later gave the Warriors their second run.
With one out and a runner on first in the fifth, Ralson went to the bullpen and lefty Chacho Madrigal to face Colton Beatty. The junior issued a walk and gave up a single down the left field line, which plated two more runs for Stanislaus.
The Pioneers picked up a run in the bottom of the inning when Chuvala singled and came around to score on an RBI ground out by Wise. They weren't able to do any further damage against Stanislaus reliever Daniel Baisdon, who got the save with three scoreless innings.
Brian Bynum pitched two innings and struck out one without allowing a base runner to close out the game for East Bay.
The Pioneers were out-hit by the Warriors 5 to 4 in the game, with Alexander, Chuvala, Carney, and
Chris Porter notching one each. Wise picked up another stolen base, his league-leading 15th of the season.
