HAYWARD, Calif. -- Cal State East Bay kicks off the southern division portion of their CCAA schedule with a visit from Cal Poly Pomona. The Pioneers won Wednesday at home against San Francisco State after a four-run, seventh inning rally gave them a 7-4 lead on their way to a 7-5 victory. The Pioneers enter this weekend's games against the Broncos with a 5-5 CCAA record and 14-7 overall.

The game against the Gators Wednesday began the process of making up the four games that were postponed due to the rain that hit the Bay Area the weekend of March 11-March 13. They will play the second makeup game Wednesday at San Francisco State. The date(s) for the final two games haven't been determined.

The Pioneers were behind 4-3 after five innings, but the Pioneers would send eight men to the plate and score four runs to take a three-run lead. Senior Rudy Navarro got the game tied with an RBI single that scored junior Michael Thomas. That pair has been huge for CSUEB so far this season -- Navarro leads the league in hitting (.474 avg) and doubles (11), while Thomas sports a .384 average batting in the two-hole.

The big blow came when sophomore Dakota Conners doubled down the right-field line to plate junior Troy Resch and Navarro and give the Pioneers a 6-4 lead. Freshman Joey Dice singled in Conners to give East Bay their seventh run. Junior Derek Oetken would retire the side in the ninth and pick up his fifth save of the season.

Conners went 2 for 2 with three RBI in the game and ran his batting average to .347. He is second on the team with 17 RBI's. Dice went 2 for 4 with an RBI and is now hitting. 310.

Junior Nick Sergi started for the Pioneers and went 4.1 innings and allowed one earned run on three hits. It was the first start of the season for Sergi and he owns a stellar 1.26 ERA in 14.1 innings. Senior Angel Lara worked a clean inning of relief and earned his first win of the season.

The Pioneers will look to keep pace in the CCAA when they host Cal poly Pomona, which wn the conference championship last year and advanced all the way to the NCAA Divsion II final four. 

The Broncos lost three out of four to UC San Diego in their last series and are 8-6 in the CCAA and 16-9 overall. Junior Chris Stratton leads Pomona with a .391 batting average and 18 stolen bases in 23 attempts. Senior Jared James leads the Broncos in home runs and RBI's with six and 21, respectively.

Junior Ryan Olson maintains a 1.93 ERA in five starts. Junior Michael Koval also sports a sub 2.00 ERA (1.99) in six starts.

East Bay heads south the following weekend when they play at Cal State Dominguez Hills in a three-game series beginning Saturday, April 2 with a doubleheader.