HAYWARD, Calif., -- The Cal State East Bay baseball team will compete in their final regular season California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) series of the 2018 season with a four game series against No. 15 Cal State Monterey Bay. The Pioneers and Otters will open their series with a single game on Thursday afternoon, May 3 at 3:00 p.m. at Pioneer Field. The squads will then play a doubleheader on Saturday, May 4 before concluding the season with Senior Day at Pioneer Field on Saturday May 5 at noon.
 
This will be a crucial CCAA series as the Pioneers are currently tied for seventh in the conference standings with the Sonoma State Seawolves. The top six teams in the conference advance to the annual CCAA Tournament, and with one finalseries remaining CSUEB is just two games behind fourth place Cal Poly Pomona.
 
East Bay has a 23-23 mark on the season with a 20-20 record in CCAA play after winning their home series over Sonoma State last weekend.
 
LAST ACTION
Senior southpaw Alex Vesia (W, 8-2) (Alpine, Calif.) was impressive from the mound as he tossed 7.0 innings collecting six strikeouts. Vesia is now tied for first in the CCAA with eight wins and is second with 80 strikeouts.
 
Fellow senior Nick Risucci (Las Vegas, Nev.) got the start on the mound and fanned two batters while allowing no earned runs through two innings of action.
 
The CSUEB bats totaled 11 hits as four different Pioneers notched multi-hit performances. Jacob Eder (Prescott, Ariz.) and Raymond Jones (San Diego, Calif.) both racked up two hits and an RBI apiece for East Bay. Jones added a stolen base.
 
Colt Parshall (Oakdale, Calif.) finished the ballgame with two hits and Dakota Conner (Manteca, Calif.) scored the Pioneers first run of the game to go along with his two hits and stolen base.
 
Evan Steele (Clovis, Calif.) scored CSUEB's final run of the contest after he opened the seventh inning with a leadoff single up the middle. Adam Hollar (Livermore, Calif.) and Paul Bryniarski (Fountain Hills, Ariz.) chipped in hits for East Bay.
 
The visiting team began the day with a 13-4 rout of the home team Pioneers but CSUEB bounced back with a huge 5-2 victory to take a 2-1 series lead. With the twinbill split East Bay now sits 22-23 on the season with a 19-20 mark in conference action.
 
In the opening game saw the Pioneers jump out to an early 2-0 lead after senior Raymond Jones (San Diego, Calif.) knocked a leadoff triple through the left side. After Adam Hollar (Livermore, Calif.) was walked on the next at bat, Dakota Conner (Manteca, Calif.) singled through the right side to bring home Jones. Hollar would score before the end of the opening inning.
 
Jones finished the game with a triple and a run scored. Hollar added a run, a hit and CSUEB's only stolen base of the game. Conners notched a hit and a RBI.
 
The game would turn drastically for East Bay as Sonoma State rallied off a six run second inning. The Seawolves would go on to add two more run in the seventh inning followed by four runs in the eighth and one last run in the top of the ninth inning. Sonoma State collected 11 total hits in the contest.
 
Jacob Eder (Prescott, Ariz.) and Matt Cantelme (Fair Oaks, Calif.) both had multi-hit performances for the Pioneers. Eder had two hits and a RBI while Cantelme recorded two hits. Nolan Jekich (Boise, Idaho) logged his third double of the season. Steve Robinson (Yuba City, Calif.) scored his seventh run of the year.
 
Colt Parshall (Oakdale, Calif.) had hit and scored a run. Dallas Dey (Tustin, Calif.) and Evan Steele (Clovis, Calif.) each tallied a RBI apiece.
 
The Cal State East Bay pitching staff saw seven different hurlers take the mound in the ballgame. Donovan Ramirez (San Jose, Calif.) got the start and fanned one batter in his only inning of action.
 
Stas Kuntz (L, 0-2) (Fremont, Calif.) only allowed two earned runs while on the mound. Mark Woinarowicz (Yorba Linda, Calif.) lead the Pioneers with four innings tossed while striking out one Seawolf batter.
 
Ransome Alexander (Fullerton, Calif.) tied the team lead with two strikeouts through 1.2 innings of work. Jacob Nelson (Jefferson, Wisc.) recorded one strikeout while only giving up one hit.
 
Joe Blair (Modesto, Calif.) was the only other Pioneer to garner two strikeouts. Jordan Milligan (San Jose, Calif.) ended the opening game for East Bay with a strikeout and no hits nor runs given up.
 
Cal State East Bay was able to bounce back in the doubleheader finale due to some stellar pitching from senior RJ Hanson (W, 5-3) (La Honda, Calif.) tied a career high with six strikeouts through 6.0 innings of action. Fellow senior Andrew Fernandez (S, 1) (Castro Valley, Calif.) notched his first save of the season as he completed the game by fanning two batters in the final inning of the day.
 
The Pioneer offense opened the second game with runs in each of the first three innings. Raymond Jones finished the game with two hits, a RBI and a run scored. Nolan Jekich also had two hits, including his second double of the day, a run scored and a RBI.
 
Adam Hollar hit a double and added a run while Kyosuke Ushimaru (Tokyo, Japan) tallied a double and run scored.
 
Jacob Eder logged a hit, a run and a RBI and Dakota Conners ended the game with a hit and a RBI.
 
Senior Jacob Call (W, 5-2) (Fremont, Calif.) collected his fifth win of the season after tossing 6.0 innings and fanning two batters. Fellow senior Andrew Fernandez (Castro Valley, Calif.) compiled his second save in a many games after finishing to final inning of action for CSUEB. Nick Risucci (Las Vegas, Nev.) got the start on the mound and struck out one batter through two innings of action.
 
Senior Colt Parshall (Oakdale, Calif.) paced the Pioneers with three hits, two runs scored and a RBI. It was Parshall's third triple hit game of the 2018 season.
 
East Bay took an early 1-0 lead after the second inning of play. The Seawolves would take a, 2-1 lead after the top of the fifth inning but the Pioneers would respond with two runs to end the fifth inning with a 3-2 advantage.
 
CSUEB would add more runs in the sixth and eighth innings to secure the series finale victory. Four different Cal State East Bay student-athletes finished the ballgame with at least two hits.
 
Senior Raymond Jones (San Diego, Calif.) tallied two hits, including a double and a RBI. Adam Hollar (Livermore, Calif.) compiled two hits and A RBI as well for East Bay. Kyosuke Ushimaru (Tokyo, Calif.) added two hits, including his second triple of the season and a run scored. Jacob Eder (Prescott, Ariz.) chipped in two hit with a double, a RBI and a run scored.
 
Steve Robinson (Yuba City, Calif.) scored a run and stole the Pioneers only base of the afternoon while junior Paul Bryniarski (Fountain Hills, Ariz.) scored a run as well. Dallas Dey (Tustin, Calif.) and Aaron Albaum (San Carlos, Calif.) both finished with an RBI apiece. Nolan Jekich (Boise, Idaho) completed the ballgame with a hit in the second inning.
 
PIONEER POINTS
Senior Raymond Jones (San Diego, Calif.) leads the Pioneers with a .366 batting average with 52 hits, 22 RBI, 65 total bases, 27 runs scored. He also has .458 slugging percentage and .442 on-base percentage.
 
Senior Dallas Dey (Tustin, Calif.) (.335 avg, .387 obp, .458 slg) leads the Pioneers with four home runs and is tied for the team lead with 52 hits, 36 RBI and 71 total bases.
 
Junior Paul Bryniarski (Fountain Hills, Ariz.) has appeared in 36 games and is sixth on the Pioneers with 34 hits. Bryniarski is batting .276 with 25 runs scored, 16 RBI and 43 total bases. He also has a .350 slugging percentage with four doubles, a triple and one homerun.
 
Returners Adam Hollar (Livermore, Calif.) (.315 avg, .427 obp), Colt Parshall (Oakdale, Calif.) (.297 avg, 38 hits, .320 slg) Dakota Conners (Manteca, Calif.) (.307 avg, .429 slg, 18 RBI) have been excellent, while newcomers Jacob Eder (Prescott, Ariz.) (.262 avg, .376 obp, 23 R, 27 RBI) and Kyosuke Ushimaru (Tokyo, Japan) (.266 avg, .367 slg) have provided some pop in the Pioneer lineup.
 
The pitching staff has a collective ERA of 4.86 through 46 games, despite solid strikeout numbers (296 punchouts and 171 walks in 380.0 innings).
 
Senior southpaw Alex Vesia is 8-2 with 80 strikeouts and a 1.63 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 3.99 ERA and is second on the team with 54 strikeouts and five wins. Jacob Call is third on the Pioneers on the squad with 42 strikeouts and has a 5-2 mark on the season.
 
SCOUTING NO. 15 CAL STATE MONTEREY BAY
The Monterey Bay Otters enter the series with East Bay tops in the CCAA with a 33-13 overall mark and a 27-13 record in conference action after splitting their series 2-2 against SF State. Hayden Duer is second in the league with 13 home runs and leads the Otters with 50 RBI. Colton Fletcher is tied for the CCAA league with eight wins and is first on Monterey Bay with 69.1 innings tossed and 69 strikeouts.