HAYWARD, Calif. –The Cal State East Bay baseball team will host a home California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) weekend series against the visiting Coyotes of Cal State San Bernardino. The Pioneers and Coyotes will compete in a doubleheader on Saturday, March 18 beginning at 12 noon and a series finale single game on Sunday, March 19 with a start 11:00 a.m. at Pioneer Field.
WEEK IN REVIEW
Last weekend, East Bay displayed a potent offensive attack as they scored 49 total runs in their three game road series against Cal State San Marcos. The Pioneers finished the series with a 2-1 mark.
In the opening game of action, East Bay exploded for 10 runs in extra innings to claim a 18-10 victory. CSUEB tied their season high with 21 hits, which they set in a win over Holy Names in February. The Pioneers also tallied a season high in run scored (18) and RBIs (17). East Bay also set a season-high with five players hit by pitches.
Just over a year after setting the record with 26 hits in a win over Fresno Pacific, the Pioneers topped that to cap off an impressive offensive weekend. 14 of their 27 hits were for extra bases, including home runs by
Michael Thomas and
Jackson Foss. CSUEB also stole four bags and drew seven walks.
With the 2-1 series win the Pioneers improve to 14-7 on the season with a 5-4 mark in CCAA action.
LEADING THE NATION
East Bay has done several things well to jump out to a 14-7 start to the season, but when it comes to swiping bases, they have been the best in the country. Heading into the weekend, the Pioneers are the top program in Division II with 56 stolen bases. More impressively, they've only been caught eight times in 64 attempts.
Marcus Wise, the reigning CCAA Player of the Week, leads East Bay and is second in the nation with 19 stolen bases so far on the season, while only being caught twice in 21 attempts.
CCAA PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Cal State East Bay senior
Marcus Wise has been selected as the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Baseball Player of the Week for Mar. 6-12.
The Antioch, Calif. native had a huge weekend as Cal State East Bay won two out of three games on the road at Cal State San Marcos, out-scoring the Cougars 49-34 in a weekend chocked full of offense. Wise had two hits and two RBI in each of the first two games of the series. Then in the finale, he went 5-for-6 with two doubles, four runs, and four RBI, as the Pioneers set a program record with 27 hits.
In just three games at CSUSM, Wise went 9-for-17 with three walks, four doubles, seven runs scored, and eight RBI. He also went 3-for-3 on stolen base attempts.
The four-year senior has a .388 on-base percentage for the season as CSUEB's primary leadoff hitter. He has swiped 19 bases in 21 attempts this season, which leads the CCAA and ranks second in the entire nation. Wise now has 71 steals in his career as he continues to extend his program record, and he's within range of Ray Stokes' single-season record of 29 stolen bags.
This is the first career CCAA Player of the Week award for Wise, who also ranks sixth in Cal State East Bay history in career runs scored (103) and eighth in career walks (61).
KEEP THE K'S DOWN
The Pioneers have been solid offensively, batting .305 with a .369 on-base percentage as a team.
Wyatt Foreman (.450 avg, .507 obp, 27 Hits) and
Michael Thomas (.405 avg, 30 Hits, 22 RBI) are 1st and 4th respectively in the CCAA in batting average.
Troy Resch (.359 avg, .516 slg, 33 tb) and
Dallas Dey (.453 obp, 21 Hits, 1 HR) have also gotten off to hot starts for CSUEB.
But as was the case in 2015, one of their biggest strengths is drawing walks and putting pressure on defenses. They rank third in the league in walks, and they are the only team in the CCAA with more walks than strikeouts (99-85). Individually, Bartlett leads the conference and ranks ninth in the nation with 20 free passes.
STIFLING STAFF
The Pioneers have a 4.04 team ERA with 76 walks and 131 strikeouts in 176.0 innings tossed. Their top three starters –
Alex Vesia,
Joel Lamont and
Jacob Call – have combined for a 3.11 ERA. Meanwhile, relievers
Andrew Fernandez,
Nick Sergi,
Brandon Acosta and
Joey Portugal have combined to allow just 11 earned runs in 45.1 innings pitched.
SCOUTING CAL STATE SAN BERNARDINO
The Coyotes completed their midweek game against Concordia University with a 6-4 victory on Wednesday, March 15. They are batting .229 with a .316 on-base percentage, highlighted by five players batting at least .250. The CSUSB pitching staff has a 5.44 team ERA, led by Austin Casillas (1-0, 1.80 ERA) and Noah Simon (1-0, 1.86 ERA). When the teams last met in 2016, the Pioneers took a 2-1 series win at Fiscalini Field in San Bernardino.
