HAYWARD, Calif., -- The Cal State East Bay baseball team will return to Hayward for a four-game California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) home series against the Sonoma State Seawolves at Pioneer Baseball Field. The series will begin Friday, April 27 and end Sunday, April 29.
 
This will be a crucial CCAA series as the Pioneers are currently sitting eighth in the conference standings. The top six teams in the conference advance to the annual CCAA Tournament, and with two series remaining the Pioneers are two games behind the fifth place Seawolves.
 
East Bay has a 20-22 mark on the season with a 17-19 record in CCAA play.
 
LAST ACTION
Senior southpaw Alex Vesia (W, 7-2) (Alpine, Calif.) hurled another outing from the mound after fanning eight Gator batter as he has now not allowed any earned runs through 39 straight innings. Fellow senior Nick Risucci (Las Vegas, Nev.) tossed 7.0 innings for the Pioneers logging one strikeout.
 
The pitching duo of Vesia and Risucci held an SF State team that came into the ballgame averaging nearly six runs a game and 13.75 in their last four games to just one run on two hits. The Gators did not even have a base runner until the fourth inning and was held hitless until the eighth inning.
 
The CSUEB offense was led by Raymond Jones (San Diego, Calif.)  and Jacob Eder (Prescott, Ariz.) as they both complied multi-hit performances. Jones notched three hits with an RBI and a run scored. Eder also tallied three hits, two RBI, two stolen bases and a run scored.
 
Adam Hollar (Livermore, Calif.) and Dakota Conners (Manteca, Calif.) finished with a run scored and a hit apiece. Colt Parshall (Oakdale, Calif.) registered an RBI single to right field in the sixth inning for Cal State East Bay.
 
Paul Bryniarski (Fountain Hills, Ariz.) scored a run and stole a base for East Bay. Dallas Dey (Tustin, Calif.) garnered a hit and Kyosuke Ushimaru (Tokyo, Calif.) accounted for a RBI and drew a walk.
 
The opening game featured 13 hits from the Pioneer offense but also a trio of fielding errors for Cal State East Bay.
 
Senior Colt Parshall (Oakdale, Calif.) paced East Bay with a game-high three hits, two RBI and a run scored.
 
Dakota Conners (Manteca, Calif.), Kyosuke Ushimaru (Tokyo, Japan) and Matt Cantelme (Fair Oaks, Calif.) all turned in multi-hit performances for CSUEB. Conners tallied two hits and scored twice. Ushimaru finished the ballgame with two hits, two RBI and a run scored. Cantelme added two hits, including a double and two RBI.
 
It was a back-and-forth scoring affair for the Pioneers and Gators as the teams totaled 16 runs. SF State opened the game with three runs in the opening inning and East Bay responded with two run apiece in the top of the second and third innings. SFSU did not allow the lead to last long as they ripped off three more runs in the bottom of the third inning.
 
The Pioneers would score three runs through the next six innings while the Gators tagged on another three run inning in the bottom of the eighth inning to claim a, 9-7 victory.
 
Raymond Jones (San Diego, Calif.) registered a double and scored two runs. Adam Hollar (Livermore, Calif.) chipped in a hit and a RBI while recorded the Pioneers lone stolen base on the game.
 
Dallas Dey (Tustin, Calif.) and Jacob Eder (Prescott, Ariz.) each completed the game with a hit apiece.
 
Junior Jordan Milligan (San Jose, Calif.) got the start on the mound for East Bay and only allowed two earned runs through two innings of action. Mark Woinarowicz (L, 0-1) (Yorba Linda, Calif.) only gave up three hits and no walks in his only inning on the mound. Jacob Call (Fremont, Calif.) led CSUEB with three strikeouts and no earned runs given up after hurling five innings for the Pioneers.
 
In the doubleheader finale, Cal State East Bay suffered a, 7-6 comeback defeat as the Gators rallied off three runs in the final inning to claim the sweep.
 
Senior Dallas Dey led the Pioneers with three hits and three RBI, including a two-run double in the top of the sixth inning.
Raymond Jones finished with two this and two RBI. Paul Bryniarski (Fountain Hills, Ariz.) garnered two hits and scored two runs. Evan Steele (Clovis, Calif.) logged two hits and a run.
 
Dakota Conners collected a double and scored two runs. Adam Hollar scored a run and Jacob Eder secured CSUEB's lone stolen base of the second game.
 
RJ Hanson (La Honda, Calif.) fell just shy of a complete game after tossing six innings and leading the Pioneers with five strikeouts and only one walked batter. Nick Risucci (L, 2-1) (Las Vegas, Nev.) walked two batters in his time on the mound. Andrew Fernandez (Castro Valley, Calif.) did not give up any runs nor walks during his time on the mound.
 
Jacob Nelson (Jefferson, Wisc.) got the start on the mound as CSUEB used six pitchers in the series finale. Nelson allowed just two hits along with two strikeouts through the opening three innings. Donovan Ramirez (San Jose, Calif.) was up next for the Pioneers as he fanned two batters and allowed one earned run in his only inning of work.
 
After Ramirez, Ransome Alexander (Fullerton, Calif.) saw an inning of action as the home team Gators added another run to take a 2-0 lead. The Pioneers would respond with two runs of their own to tie the game in the top of the sixth inning.
 
Andrew Fernandez (Castro Valley, Calif.) was on the mound in the sixth inning for Cal State East Bay and did not allow any runs while walking two batters. Nick Rusucci (L, 2-1) (Las Vegas, Nev.) garnered his first loss of the season after SF State hit a three-run home run after back-to-back walks which proved to be the eventual game clinching runs. Mark Woinarowicz (Yorba Linda, Calif.) finished the game of the mound for East Bay.
 
Senior Dallas Dey (Tustin, Calif.) led the way for the Pioneer offense registering two of the CSUEB's five hits and collecting one of their two RBI. Raymond Jones (San Diego, Calif.) and Jacob Eder (Prescott, Ariz.) compiled a hit and a run each for Cal State East Bay.
 
Colt Parshall (Oakdale, Calif.) added a hit for East Bay and Dakota Conners (Manteca, Calif.) chipped in a RBI for CSUEB.
 
PIONEER POINTS
Senior Raymond Jones (San Diego, Calif.) is second on the Pioneers with a .352 batting average with 45 hits, 19 RBI, 55 total bases, 25 runs scored. He also has .430 slugging percentage and .436 on-base percentage.
 
Senior Dallas Dey (Tustin, Calif.) (.369 avg, .418 obp, .504 slg) and leads the Pioneers with four home runs and is tops on the team with 52 hits, 34 RBI and 71 total bases.
 
Junior Paul Bryniarski (Fountain Hills, Ariz.) has appeared in 34 games and is fifth on the Pioneers with 33 hits. Bryniarski is batting .275 with 24 runs scored, 16 RBI and 40 total bases. He also has a .350 slugging percentage with four doubles, a triple and one homerun.
 
Returners Adam Hollar (Livermore, Calif.) (.306 avg, .422 obp) and Dakota Conners (Manteca, Calif.) (.309 avg, .443 slg, 16 RBI) have been excellent, while newcomers Jacob Eder (Prescott, Ariz.) (.227 avg, .343 obp, 21 R, 23 RBI) and Kyosuke Ushimaru (Tokyo, Japan) (.255 avg, .333 slg) have provided some pop in the Pioneer lineup.
 
The pitching staff has a collective ERA of 5.02 through 42 games, despite solid strikeout numbers (268 punchouts and 153 walks in 346.1 innings).
 
Senior southpaw Alex Vesia is 7-2 with 74 strikeouts and a 1.67 ERA. Vesia has earned CCAA Pitcher of the Week in consecutive weeks as he set CSUEB's all-time leader in career victories and strikeouts.
 
RJ Hanson is third on the team with a 4.10 ERA and is second on the team with 48 strikeouts and four wins. Jacob Call is third on the Pioneers on the squad with 40 strikeouts and has a 4-2 mark on the season.
 
SCOUTING SONOMA STATE
The Sonoma State Seawolves enter the weekend series against the Pioneers sitting fifth in the conference with a 23-19 record and a 19-17 mark in CCAA action after splitting their series 2-2 against No. 13 Cal State Monterey Bay. Bryce Nagata leads Sonoma State with 52 hits, 29 runs scored, six home runs and a .552 slugging percentage. Jackson Berumen leads the Seawolves with 44 strikeouts while boasting a 4-3 record on the mound this season.