HAYWARD, Calif. -- The Cal State East Bay baseball team won both ends of its doubleheader against Central Washington on Sunday, prevailing by final scores of 8-1 and 3-2 to take three out of four games from the visiting Wildcats in non-conference action.

The Pioneer pitching staff was outstanding in both contests, as starters Jacob Call and Joel Lamont led the way with nearly identical pitching lines. 

East Bay is now 6-2 to open the 2017 season with one non-conference series remaining before the start of the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) schedule.

The Wildcats snagged a lead early in the first game thanks to a line drive solo home run by Conor Plaisance. But that was all the damage they would do against Call, who shut the CWU lineup down through six innings. Meanwhile, the Pioneers scored twice in the second and twice in the third, highlighted by a two-run single by Dallas Dey to give CSUEB the lead.

The score stayed 4-1 until the sixth, when Troy Resch roped a run-scoring single to right field as a pinch hitter to tack on a run. East Bay broke the game open with three more runs in the eighth, and once again Dey got the big hit with a two-out two-run opposite field single. 

Call allowed just three hits and issued one walk in 6.0 innings. He struck out five and earned his first victory of the season. Left-hander Joey Portugal finished the game with three scoreless innings to pick up the save.

Dey finished 3-for-4 with four RBI in the morning game. Wyatt Foreman also notched multiple hits, going 2-for-5 with two runs scored. The Pioneers out-hit CWU just 8-6 for the game but they drew a staggering 11 walks from Wildcat pitching. Kris Bartlett and Joey Dice epitomized this phenomenon, totaling zero hits and seven bases on balls between them. 

That trend didn't continue into game two, as CWU starter Mackenzie Gaul turned in a strong performance and issued just one walk. But the trend of impressive Pioneer pitching did continue, as Lamont followed a script similar to Call's. The Wildcats took a 1-0 lead after stringing three hits together in the second inning, but Lamont settled down and struck out the side. He followed that up with four hitless innings to allow the East Bay bats to do just enough damage to win.

Singles by Dey and Matt Cantelme, followed by an RBI ground out by Marcus Wise tied the game 1-1 in the third. Two innings later, Pablo Artero led off with a double over the center fielder's head, and then Dey ripped a line drive up the middle to bring home the go-ahead run. 

Artero plated another run in the sixth with a two-out double that the sliding center fielder couldn't quite come up with. He brought home Foreman with an insurance run that proved to be crucial when Plaisance homered again to lead off the seventh. 

Senior right-hander Joshua Kubiske halted the Wildcat rally there, however. After Plaisance made it 3-2, Kubiske retired the next three hitters in order to seal the win and earn his first save. 

Lamont earned his first victory as a Pioneer, giving up three hits and one walk with five strikeouts in six innings.

Dey was the offensive hero of the day, going 2-for-3 to finish the doubleheader 5-for-7 with five RBI.

Bartlett went 0-for-2 with a walk in the finale to cap off a remarkable statistical feat. The CSUEB left fielder went 0-for-9 in the series against CWU, but nonetheless posted a .438 on-base percentage thanks to seven free passes. In seven games this season, he has made 14 outs and drawn 12 walks.

Next up the Pioneers take on Holy Names for a four-game series, starting Friday, Feb. 17 at 6 p.m. at College of Alameda.