HAYWARD, Calif. -- The Cal State East Bay baseball team dropped both ends of its doubleheader on Saturday at Pioneer Field, closing out the regular season with losses to visiting Stanislaus State by final scores of 10-1 and 3-1.
The Warriors won three out of four in the series to enter the postseason on a hot streak. The Pioneers lost 10 of their last 12, but nonetheless finished with an overall record of 25-24 to notch the program's fourth winning season in the last five years.
As is tradition for the final home game of the season, the Pioneers honored their 12 seniors during the annual "Senior Day" ceremony, which took place between games. The members of this class of 2017 have had tremendous success together, totaling 58 wins over the last two years and making history last year with a trip to the CCAA Tournament and a berth in the NCAA West Regional.
The one senior who has been around even longer is
Marcus Wise, a four-year starter who played his 166th career game Saturday afternoon. Wise ranks fourth in school history with 114 career runs scored and 10th with 152 career hits. He will graduate as the program's all-time leader in stolen bases after swiping a conference-best 25 bags this season to bring his career total to 77.
The Pioneers briefly led in the first game of the day after senior
Troy Resch knocked in fellow senior
Daniel Goodrich with a two-out single to make it 1-0.
Senior right-hander
Brandon Acosta was effective early, but the Warriors got to him for a run in the second inning, three in the fourth, and another one in the fifth. Senior
Alex Leach followed him out of the bullpen and was outstanding over 3.1 innings, allowing just one hit and one earned run in the longest outing of his career.
The game wasn't as one-sided as the final score would indicate, as Stanislaus tacked on four runs in the ninth inning. But even a narrow lead might have been enough for Stewart Alexander, who held the Pioneers to six hits (all singles) and needed just 101 pitches to get through 8.0 innings. The Warrior right-hander won to improve to 8-3.
Wise posted a multi-hit performance, going 2-for-4 in the game one loss.
The second game of the doubleheader followed a similar script from an offensive standpoint. East By simply couldn't put a substantial rally together against Stanislaus State starter Robbie DeVries, totaling just five hits in the seven-inning contest. Senior
Wyatt Foreman led the way with a double and a walk.
The Pioneers got excellent pitching in the season finale, first from senior
Nick Sergi. He matched zeroes with DeVries until the top of the fifth, when a pair of doubles put a run on the scoreboard for the Warriors.
Derek Oetken replaced him an allowed a two-run home run to Tyler Nixon, the second time in the series Nixon has cleared the right field fence. Oetken then tossed a scoreless frame in the sixth, and fellow senior
Joshua Kubiske worked a perfect inning in the seventh with two strikeouts.
Unfortunately a comeback was not in the cards. In the second, the Pioneers had runners on second and third with one out, but the run was cut down at the plate on an infield chopper. Their best scoring chance came in the sixth when
Kris Bartlett singled, Foreman doubled, and
Dallas Dey walked to load the bases with two outs.
Zack Perugi then ripped a single into right field to bring home one run, but Foreman was thrown out at the plate to end the threat.
Nick Voumard retired East Bay in order in the last inning to record his 15th save, which leads the nation.