HAYWARD, Calif., -- The Cal State East Bay baseball team will return to Hayward Hills for a home weekend California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) series against the visiting Cal State San Marcos Cougars at Pioneer Field.
 
The Pioneers are currently 10-12 on the season with a 7-9 mark in conference action.
 
WEEK IN REVIEW
The Cal State East Bay baseball team took an unconventional pitching approach on Saturday in its series opener on the road at Chico State, and it paid off with a 5-1 win over the Wildcats at Nettleton Stadium.
 
The Pioneers out-hit Chico 10-5 for the game, but they tallied just one run batted in as they took advantage of three Wildcat errors to score the necessary runs for victory.
 
Chico ace Casey Costello allowed just one earned run, but suffered his first defeat of the season as the visitors found other ways to score. The Pioneers took the lead in the top of the third with a two-out rally. After a pair of fly outs, Raymond Jones singled up the middle. Dallas Dey then surprised the defense with a bunt single, and the Chico third baseman threw the ball away, allowing Jones to score and Dey to advance to second. Another Wildcat error on Kyosuke Ushimaru's grounder allowed Dey to come home and make it 2-0.
 
Chico got a run back in the bottom of the fourth as a pair of infield errors by the Pioneers put runners at the corners. The Wildcats then scored a run on a squeeze bunt.
 
But the Pioneers answered right back in the fifth, with Paul Bryniarski and Dakota Conners setting the tables with back-to-back singles. After a sacrifice bunt by Jones, Bryniarski scored on a wild pitch, then Conners scored on another error by the second baseman. East Bay tacked on another run in the eighth as Jacob Eder was hit by a pitch, stole second, and scored on a single by Colt Parshall.
 
In an attempt to curtail the team's late inning struggles, head coach Mike Cummins gave the start to his usual closer Andrew Fernandez. The senior worked a scoreless frame to open the game, and then Joey Portugal and Ransome Alexander followed with one scoreless inning each.
 
With a narrow lead after three innings, Cummins turned to his normal Friday starter to take the Pioneers the rest of the way. Alex Vesia was brilliant over the final six innings, allowed just three hits and striking out seven as he picked up his second win of the season.
 
The teams combined for just three walks in game that was briskly-paced and lasted just 2 hours and 18 minutes despite shaky defense.
 
Eight different Pioneers reached back in the victory, with Conners (2-5), Jones (2-3), and Parshall (2-4) notching multi-hit performances.
 
The Cal State East Bay baseball team split its doubleheader on the road at Chico State on Sunday to take a 2-1 series lead into Monday's finale.
 
After Saturday's success, head coach Mike Cummins ran back the same pitching strategy on Sunday, saving his normal starter for the final six innings. Jordan Milligan got the start and pitched a scoreless first inning. Ransome Alexander and Joey Portugal followed in the second and third, allowing one run apiece.
 
Meanwhile, the Pioneer offense struck first. After hits by Paul Bryniarski and Raymond Jones to open the game, Dallas Dey knocked in both with a two-run single to center. Two innings later, East Bay took advantage of a walk and a hit-by-pitch, with Colt Parshall picking up an RBI with a single up the middle.
 
Cummins turned to RJ Hanson in the bottom of the fourth inning, and the senior right-hander took CSUEB the rest of the way. The Pioneer bats kept the pressure on, scoring another run in the fifth as Kyosuke Ushimaru and Matt Cantelme traded doubles. Chico got a run back in the bottom of the frame and had two more on base, but Hanson was able to get a double play to preserve the lead.
 
The following inning, East Bay added a huge run after singles by Dakota Conners and Jones set the table with one out. After a ground out, Chico's pitcher made a throwing error on a pick-off attempt, allowing Conners to come home.
 
The Wildcats manufactured a run in the seventh on a walk, a stolen base, and two ground outs, but again Hanson escaped further damage. The Pioneers clung to a narrow 5-4 lead heading into the final two frames, but Hanson was able to record the final six outs without drama to secure the win.
 
Seven of the nine Pioneer starters had at least one hit in the first game, as CSUEB bested Chico 12-10 in that category. Conners and Jones led the way, each posting a three-hit performance.
 
It was a different story in game two as the Pioneers were unable to mount any rallies against Wildcat starter Grant Larson, who tossed a four-hit shutout in the shortened seven-inning game.
 
Jones and Dey were the only East Bay hitters able to do any damage, each finishing 2-for-3. But it didn't result in any runs, and the Pioneers were also unable to take advantage of four Chico defensive errors.
 
Andrew Fernandez got the start and found himself trailing early, as the Wildcats scored once in the second inning and three times in the third. The senior ended up allowing six earned runs in 4.2 innings, with Chico stretching out its lead in the final frames.
 
Jacob Nelson pitched one-third of an inning in relief, and then Mario Mazzoni worked the sixth to finish it off, allowing one hit and one run.
 
The Cal State East Bay baseball team closed out its California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) series at Chico State with an epic victory on Monday, prevailing 11-10 over the Wildcats in a game that featured four lead changes and 39 total base runners.
 
The win gave the Pioneers a 3-1 series victory, their first in CCAA competition this season.
 
Both offenses were clicking in this series finale, as both teams scored in five of the nine innings. East Bay ended up out-hitting Chico 14-12, but it was all Wildcats early.
 
As he had done the previous two days, head coach Mike Cummins saved his normal starter -- in this case, Jacob Call -- to bring in to start the fourth inning. Freshman Mark Woinarowicz took the ball in the first inning and had a rough start, giving up three hits and a walk following a leadoff error. Cummins turned to Joey Portugal for two outs, and then Donavon Ramirez to close out the inning, but not before the Wildcats grabbed a 4-0 lead.
 
Although it felt like they had dug a large hole for themselves early, the game was far from over. A walk to Dallas Dey and singles by Matt Cantelme and Colt Parshall plated the first Pioneer run in the second inning. After Chico answered back in the bottom of the frame to make it 5-1, East Bay hung three on the scoreboard in the third. They took advantage of an error and a wild pitch, got two productive outs from Raymond Jones and Kyouke Ushimaru, and were powered by hits from Dey and Dakota Conners.
 
In the fourth, the Pioneers mounted a two-out rally to tie the game, as Evan Steele walked and came all the way around to score when Paul Bryniarski doubled into the right field corner.
 
The fireworks continued in the sixth when back-to-back bunt singles by Parshall and Steele set the table. East Bay took the lead on a passed ball, and then extended it on an RBI double by Conners. Two batters later, Dey blasted a two-run homer to left field to make it 9-5.
 
The Pioneers seemingly had all the momentum after Dey's team-leading fourth round-tripper of the year, but once again, the game was far from over. The Wildcats staged a two-out rally of their own in the bottom of the sixth, as Alex DeVito followed a walk with a two-run homer off Call to cut the Pioneer lead in half.
 
Chico tallied three more hits to score two runs in the seventh, and just like that CSUEB's lead had evaporated and it was a new ballgame. After working 4.0 innings, Call handed the ball over to Nick Risucci, who retired three straight batters to end the seventh.
 
Th next inning, the Pioneers put a pair of runners on base as Conners doubled and Dey singled. Then with two outs, defensive replacement Adam Hollar got his first plate appearance of the game and shot an opposite-field single into right field to bring home two runs.
 
Staked to an 11-9 lead, Risucci pitched a scoreless eighth inning. After the Pioneers failed to extend their lead in the top of the ninth, Risucci came back out to the mound looking to close it out. But after a single and a hit-by-pitch, Cummins turned to staff ace Alex Vesia, the winning pitcher in Saturday's game. After a walk to load the bases, Vesia allowed a sacrifice fly to make it 11-10. But with the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position, he retired the next batter on a fly ball to end the game.
 
It was the first save of the season for Vesia and the second victory for Risucci, who improved to 2-0.
 
Offensively, a trio of Pioneers led the way with three-hit performances. Dey and Conners both reached base four times, the former going 3-for-4 with a walk, three runs, and three RBI, and the latter finishing 3-for-5 with three doubles, a walk, and three runs. Parshall went 3-for-4 with an RBI, his second multi-hit effort of the series. He went 6-for-14 against Chico, improving his season batting average by over 90 points.
 
PIONEER POINTS
Senior Raymond Jones (San Diego, Calif.) is second on the Pioneers with a .339 batting average with 21 hits, 10 RBI, 25 total bases, 10 runs scored. He also has .403 slugging percentage and .431 on-base percentage.
 
 Jones was named CSUEB Male Athlete of the Week after a red hot weekend with the bat during East Bay's first three games of their series at Chico State. He reached base four times in the team's 5-4 win in game one of Sunday's doubleheader, going 3-for-4 with a walk. He finished with multiple hits in each of the first three games, batting .700 (7-for-10) with a stolen base and a pair of runs scored.
 
Junior Paul Bryniarski (Fountain Hills, Ariz.) has started 19 games and leads the Pioneers with 28 hits. Bryniarski is batting .333 with 17 runs scored, 14 RBI and 37 total bases. He also has a .440 slugging percentage with four doubles, a triple and one homerun.
 
Senior Dallas Dey (Tustin, Calif.) (.365 avg, .427 obp, .568 slg) and leads the Pioneers with four home runs and is second on the team with 27 hits.
 
Returners Adam Hollar (.313 avg, .469 obp) and Joey Dice (.259 avg, .432 obp, 9 BB) have been excellent, while newcomers Jacob Eder (.217 avg, .390 obp, 15 R, 13 RBI) and Jordan Estes (.292 avg, .417 slg) have provided some pop in the Pioneer lineup.
 
The pitching staff has a collective ERA of 5.79 through 22 games, despite solid strikeout numbers (156 punchouts and 83 walks in 183.1 innings). Senior southpaw Alex Vesia is 2-2 with 33 strikeouts and a 3.34 ERA. RJ Hanson is second on the team with a 3.38 ERA and is second on the team with 29 strikeouts with three wins. Jacob Call is third on the Pioneers on the squad with 25 strikeouts and has only given up two homers this season.
 
SCOUTING CAL STATE SAN MARCOS
Cal State San Marcos comes into the weekend with a 12-10 mark on the season and a 7-9 record in conference action after going 2-2 in their home series against Sonoma State. Tyler Place leads the Cougars with 29 hits and four home runs. Taylor Greene leads the San Marcos pitching staff with 35 strikeouts and a 4-1 record.