ROHNERT PARK, Calif. -- The Cal State East Bay baseball team suffered a pair of heartbreaking defeats on Saturday as Sonoma State swept the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) doubleheader by final scores of 7-5 and 1-0.
Game 1 - SSU 7, CSUEB 5The Pioneers jumped on the board first in the morning game, but the Seawolves answered back with three straight crooked numbers in the middle innings to pull off the comeback win.
In the top of the second, senior
Jason Fletcher took SSU starter DeVon Golden deep for a solo home run. Staked with a 1-0 lead, East Bay's
Jacob Phillips held the Seawolves scoreless through the first three innings.
The home team answered back in the bottom of the fourth, stringing together four singles to plate two runs and take over the lead. The Pioneers committed two errors in the following inning, allowing the Seawolves to extend their advantage to 4-1.
But the CSUEB bats didn't quit, as the visitors proceeded to hang four runs on the scoreboard in the top of the sixth. After an error and a single by
Rudy Navarro,
Ryan Kochan bunted for a hit to knock in a run. A pair of sacrifices -- a bunt by
Marcus Williams and a fly ball to center by Fletcher -- plated another run, and then
Dakota Conners beat out a single to shortstop to tie the game at 4-4. After Conners stole second base,
Wyatt Foreman gave the Pioneers the lead with an RBI single through the left side.
Unfortunately for the Pioneers, their lead was short-lived. Phillips came out of the game after a solid outing, allowing two earned runs on eight hits in five innings.
Cole Compton came out of the bullpen for the sixth, and Sonoma State staged what would ultimately be the game-winning rally.
A double by Adam Manzer and a single by Spencer Neve tied the game at 5-5. After a sacrifice bunt and a strikeout, Jourdan Weiks kept the inning going with a ground ball single. Head coach
Bob Ralston then turned to reliever
David Elzig, but Alex Crosby found a hole between the first and second basemen to give the Seawolves the lead back. After a double steal, SSU tacked on its seventh run thanks to East Bay's fifth error of the game.
The Pioneers weren't able to mount a rally after that, as Seawolf reliever Devin Alexander pitched three scoreless innings to earn the save and make a winner out of Golden (2-3). Compton was charged with the loss, his first of the season.
East Bay totaled eight hits in the game, led by Navarro. The junior outfielder reached base all five times he came up, going 3-for-3 with two walks.
Game 2 - SSU 1, CSUEB 0Friday's second game, scheduled for seven innings, was an extremely well-pitched contest between Sonoma State's Ryan Luna and CSUEB freshman
Alex Vesia, who both tossed complete games.
Each hurler breezed through the first five innings, allowing two hits apiece. The Seawolves scored the game's only run in the bottom of the sixth when Weiks drew a one-out walk, then stole second base. Crosby once again had a the go-ahead hit with a single to center field.
East Bay's best scoring chance came in the last inning. Fletcher got things started with a single down the right field line. With two outs, Kochan pinch-hit and was hit by a pitch. Williams then pinch-hit and beat out a single to shortstop to load the bases. Ralston sent out his third straight pinch-hitter in
Daniel Carney, who hit a line drive back up the middle, but Luna snagged it to end the game.
Vesia suffered the hard-luck loss to drop his record to 2-4. The southpaw ranks eighth in the CCAA with a 2.25 ERA for the season, but has received just one total run of support over his last three starts.
Fletcher finished 2-for-3 to lead the Pioneers offensively. Navarro went 1-for-3, notching a four-hit performance in the doubleheader.
The four-game series between the Pioneers (7-23, 7-19 CCAA) and Seawolves (20-16, 14-13 CCAA) concludes on Saturday with the finale scheduled for 11 a.m.
