HAYWARD, Calif. – The Cal State East Bay baseball team split the opening day doubleheader of their Homecoming weekend series against the Central Washington Wildcats on Saturday afternoon, February 11 at Pioneer Field.
The Pioneers dropped the first game 1-0 in a tough defensive battle with great pitching from both teams but East Bay bounced back for a 9-4 win to even the series. East Bay now sits at 4-2 on the season. The Pioneers start the season off with a 4-2 record or better for the second consecutive year.
In the first game Zack Perugi and
Michael Thomas led the Pioneers with two hits apiece.
Marcus Wise added one hit and stole a base in the loss.
Alex Vesia (0-1) led East Bay with seven strikeouts through five innings tossed.
Nick Sergi retired one batter while compiling four innings on the mound.
The Pioneers turned things around in the second contest and displayed an offensive explosion that led to 12 hits. Lead off man
Troy Resch paced the Pioneers with three hits, an RBI and one stolen base.
The Wildcats scored four runs in the top of the third inning on a grand slam and the Pioneers promptly answered with four runs of their own. East Bay would go on to close the fifth inning with three runs and scoring two runs in the sixth.
Pablo Artero,
Evan Steele and
Marcus Wise each tallied two hits apiece.
Artero scored two runs and recorded an RBI double to center field in the fifth inning. Steele also scored one run on a wild pitch and added an RBI single to center field in the third inning to put the Pioneers on the board. Wise led East Bay with three stolen bases and scored a run in the bottom of the sixth.
Zack Perugi led the Pioneers with three RBIs, including two on a double through the right side in the bottom of the sixth inning. He also recorded one hit.
Brandon Acosta (1-0) picked up his first win of the year after entering the game with the score tied at 4-4. He gave struck out two Wildcat batter and did not give up any runs through two innings on the mound.
Andrew Fernandez captured his second save of the season coming in at the top of the fifth and compiling a team best four strikeouts.
The Pioneers will complete their Homecoming weekend series against Central Washington with a Sunday afternoon doubleheader. The first game will begin at 11:00 a.m. at Pioneer Field.
