SEASIDE, Calif., -- The Cal State East Bay baseball team opened up their "Battle of the Bays" series against rival Cal State Monterey Bay with a 14-3 defeat at CSUMB Baseball Complex on Friday afternoon, March 15.
 
With the loss, East Bay falls to 9-13 on the season with a 6-10 mark in California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) action.
 
Despite low number of runs scored for the Pioneers, it was not for lack of offense as CSUEB racked up 13 hits with 15 hits from the home team Otters. East Bay did however commit four errors in the ball game.
 
Senior Kyosuke Ushimaru (Tokyo, Japan) paced the Pioneers with four his through five at bats with an RBI.
 
The first three innings of the contest went scoreless before both teams began to put runs on the board. Steve Robinson (Yuba City, Calif.) singled down the first base line to open the top of the fourth inning. Robinson advanced to second on a ground ball and moved to third after a passed ball. Robinson scored the first run of the ballgame on a wild pitch to give CSUEB a 1-0 lead.
 
Monterey Bay responded with five runs in the bottom of the fourth inning and three more runs in the bottom of the fifth to take an 8-1 advantage.
 
The Pioneers would make a late game rally with two runs in the top of the seventh. Joey Dice (Reno, Nev.) was hit by a pitch to open the inning and Ryan McSwain (Redwood City, Calif.) followed with a double to center field. In the next at bat, Dice scored on an RBI grounded out to third base by Ryan Thomasy (Redding, Calif.). Then Ushimaru singled up the middle to scored McSwain as East Bay ended the top of the seventh inning down 8-3.
 
Unfortunately for Cal State East Bay, those would be their final runs of the game as Monterey Bay added four runs in the bottom of the seventh and two more runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to claim the 14-3 victory.
 
Steve Robinson and Ryan McSwain both finished with two hits each. Robinson scored a run and McSwain added a double, a run, stole a base and drew a walk.
 
Ryan Thomasy, Omar Sanchez (Winton, Calif.), Adam Hollar (Livermore, Calif.), Robert Lujan (Reno, Nev.) and Matt Cantelme (Fair Oaks, Calif.) all chipped in one hit each. Thomasy recorded an RBI and Dice scored a run.
 
Ransome Alexander (Fullerton, Calif.) got the start on the mound and tallied two strikeouts through two innings of action. Jordan Milligan (L, 0-3) allowed five runs and four hits in his only inning of play. Blake Corsentino (Newman, Calif.) picked up one strikeout through nearly two innings on the mound and Kyle Basch (Mission Viejo, Calif.) also added a strikeout after tossing 1.1 innings. Matt Woinarowicz (Yorba Linda, Calif) logged two strikeouts in his lone inning of action and Michael Espino (South San Francisco, Calif.) gave up two hits and two runs in his inning of play.
 
The Pioneers and Otters will move their home and away series to Hayward with a doubleheader at Pioneer Baseball Field with a first pitch scheduled for a noon start on Saturday, March 16.