HAYWARD, Calif. -- The Cal State East Bay baseball team pulled out a 6-5 victory over visiting Cal State Stanislaus on Friday afternoon in the opener of the final California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) series of the season.
Senior
Michael Pope had a strong outing in the final start of his collegiate career, and the Pioneers emerged from an eventful eighth inning with a one-run lead, which junior
Cole Compton protected in the ninth inning to earn his first save.
Both teams had base runners early and often in this game, as the squads totaled 21 hits, four errors, and eight free passes. Ultimately it was Pioneers who were better at escaping trouble.
The action started right away as both teams scored in the first inning. Stanislaus brought home a run on a sacrifice fly, but East Bay answered back, loading the bases before
Kelly Starnes snuck a double down the third base line. However, a double and a single for the Warriors quickly tied it 2-2 in the top of the second.
Both starters settled down after that, but the Pioneers struck again in the fifth.
Dakota Conners and
Marcus Wise opened the inning with opposite-field singles. Then after a sacrifice bunt by
Myles Babitt,
Ryan Kochan gave East Bay the lead with a single to right. It was his second hit of the game, giving the reigning CCAA Player of the Week multiple hits in eight of the last nine games.
The following inning, two out singles by Conners and Wise brought in
Marcus Williams with the fourth Pioneer run.
Pope was relieved after throwing 110 pitches in seven innings. His final pitch induced a 6-4-3 double play with the bases loaded to finish off five consecutive scoreless innings. The senior allowed two earned run on five hits and struck out three. He lowered his season ERA to 3.21 and moved into seventh place in the program's all-time rankings with 233.1 career innings.
In the top of the eighth, a pop-up to shallow right with one out nestled between two fielders, and the Warriors followed with a walk, a triple, and a single off
Angel Lara to take a 5-4 lead.
But the home team didn't trail for long despite facing the Warriors' closer. In the bottom of the eighth, the Pioneers got men on first and third after a hit by Starnes and a throwing error by the third baseman attempting to force out Starnes on a grounder by Williams. With one out, Conners laid down an outstanding squeeze bunt near the first base line, and he beat it out as the tying run scored.
That brought up Wise with
Devin Higgins pinch-running at second as the go-ahead run. The Pioneer leadoff man chopped a grounder to shortstop. It was an easy force play, but there was no chance to double up the speedy Wise. Meanwhile, Higgins came around third base and never stopped, and he beat the throw back home to give East Bay the lead.
Stanislaus made it interesting in the ninth with a double and a single to put the tying run on third with one out. But Compton buckled down and punched out two straight batters on nasty sliders to end the game.
Conners and Wise both had three hits in the game, while Starnes and Kochan finished with two each.
The Pioneers played on a gorgeous day in front of a large crowd as they celebrated Faculty & Staff Appreciation Day. The first pitch was fired off by Dr. Jenny O, a southpaw of the Kinesiology Department
CSUEB improved to 18-26 for the season and 15-22 in the CCAA, moving within a game of Stanislaus (21-26, 16-21) in the league standings. The series continues with a doubleheader on Saturday, May 2 at 12 p.m. in Turlock.
