ALAMEDA, Calif. -- The Cal State East Bay baseball team earned a series victory over Holy Names this weekend after securing a pair of wins Sunday at the College of Alameda. The Pioneers edged the Hawks by a score of 3-2 in the completion of yesterday's suspended game, then their bats exploded in the finale and the pitching staff hurled a shutout in a 19-0 rout.

These were the first three completed games of the season for the Pioneers after last weekend's action was entirely washed out by rain. The weather impacted this series as well, but clear skies this afternoon allowed the teams to complete their series.

They made it to the sixth inning of Saturday's game at Pioneer Field before play was halted. Adam Hollar put the Pioneers ahead in the first with a sacrifice fly, and they clung to that lead as starting pitcher Brian Martinez worked five scoreless innings. In the sixth, the rain started and the Hawks pushed across an unearned run against reliever Kyle Basch.

When the contest resumed today, Holy Names grabbed a lead with three singles to plate a run in the seventh. But the Pioneers answered back in the bottom of the inning. A walk to Brock Bueno and a single by Dakota Conners set the table, and then Omar Sanchez tied the game with a base hit to left.

Then with the score tied 2-2 in the eighth, East Bay staged a two-out rally. Joey Dice ripped a single, then moved up to second on a wild pitch. Ryan McSwain then laced the next pitch for an opposite-field hit to bring Dice home with the go-ahead run.

After pitching a 1-2-3 frame in the eighth, right-hander Ransome Alexander stayed in for the ninth and retired the Hawks to notch the team's first victory of the year. 

The Pioneers tallied seven hits in the contest, with Conners posting a 3-for-4 performance to lead the way.

After a pair of tight, low-scoring affairs in the first two games, East Bay broke out in a big way offensively in the finale. It started slowly, as the Pioneers took a 1-0 lead in the first on an RBI double by Conners. Two innings later, Dice tripled and came in to score on McSwain's sac fly to make it 2-0.

Then in the fourth, the floodgates opened. Dice had the biggest knock of the inning, a bases-clearing three-run double down the left field line. Two batters later, Steve Robinson ripped a two-run double to break the game open and put the Pioneers ahead 8-0.There were three hit batters, three walks, and five hits in the frame, as the Pioneers sent 15 batters to the plate and hung 11 runs on the scoreboard. 

East Bay tallied four more hits and five more runs the following inning, and Dice capped it off with yet another three-run double. The senior finished 3-for-3 and drove in seven runs. He was one of five Pioneers to notch multiple hits in the win.

Although it wasn't necessary with the huge lead, the Pioneer pitching staff turned in a stellar collective effort. Seven different hurlers combined on the shutout as they struck out 10 and walked just three. Jacob Nelson and Dylan Dudley tossed two scoreless frames each, then Ethan Brodsky, Jordan Milligan, Connor Fleharty, Mark Woinarowicz, and Michael Espino worked one inning apiece.

The Pioneers out-scored HNU 25-6 for the weekend and had five hitters bat over .400. The pitching staff posted a 1.38 ERA with 12 different players seeing action on the mound.

Next up, East Bay will attempt to complete its rain-suspended game versus Menlo College this Tuesday, Feb. 12 at 1 p.m. at Pioneer Field before heading to Cal State San Marcos to open the conference schedule next weekend.