HAYWARD, Calif. -- Following a brief six-game non-conference schedule, the Cal State East Bay baseball team opens California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) competition this weekend when the Pioneers host Cal State LA for a four game series. 

The opener is scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday afternoon from what will likely be a chilly Pioneer Field. The series continues with a doubleheader Saturday and concludes with Sunday's finale, both set for 11:00 a.m.

The Pioneers are coming off an up-and-down first couple weeks to the season, but strong performances by several key returners and a few newcomers give hope that the team can be a contender in the perennially competitive CCAA, a conference that boasts three teams ranked in the preseason top-20 nationally.

East Bay opened the 2018 slate by taking three out of four games from the University of British Columbia at Pioneer Field. They stumbled a bit in their last two contests, losing both ends of a home-and-home series with William Jessup, one of the top NAIA squads in the West.

CSUEB's pitchers will look to get on track this week after allowing 26 combined runs in the two games against WJU. The staff has a collective ERA of 7.03 through six games, despite solid strikeout numbers (51 punchouts and 24 walks in 51.0 innings). Senior southpaw Alex Vesia will toe the rubber Friday to open the series after having allowed just one hit in 7.1 innings this season. A trio of upperclassmen -- RJ Hanson, Jacob Nelson, and Jacob Call -- are expected to round out the weekend rotation. 

Head coach Mike Cummins will look for as many chances as possible to hand leads over to senior closer Andrew Fernandez, who was voted as the top returning reliever in the West according to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) preseason All-West Region selections.

East Bay's offense has been its strongest asset thus far in the young season, averaging 9.0 runs per game with a .292 batting average and .449 on-base percentage. Returners Dallas Dey (.444 avg, .500 obp, .727 slg), Raymond Jones (.263 avg, .462 obp) and Joey Dice (.333 avg, .643 abp, 7 BB) have been excellent, while newcomers Jacob Eder (.412 avg, .643 obp, 9 R, 7 RBI), Paul Bryniarski (.333 avg, 8 RBI), and Jordan Estes (.429 avg, .643 slg) have provided some pop in the Pioneer lineup. 

Cal State LA opened the season by losing two out of three in a non-conference series against Stanislaus State, then prevailing in a pair of close games against British Columbia. The Golden Eagles boast a strong lineup, led so far by Adam Gordon (.429 avg, .571 slg) and Andre Gregory (.368 avg, .520 obp). They're batting .267 and scoring just over six runs per game. 

CSULA's pitching staff has a 5.28 ERA and opponents are batting .310 against them. James Mendez (4.00 ERA) and Angel Lerma (4.91 ERA) have each made two starts for the Golden Eagles and lead the team in innings pitched.

The Pioneers won two of out three games against the Golden Eagles last season when the teams met in Los Angeles. Cal State LA was picked to finish fifth in the CCAA in this year's preseason coaches poll, while East Bay was slotted for eighth.