HAYWARD, Calif., -- The Cal State East Bay baseball team will continue their home stand with a four-game Bay Bridge Battle against San Francisco State at Pioneer Baseball Field this weekend.
 
The Pioneers are 14-19 on the season with a 11-16 mark in California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) play after going 3-1 in their series against Dominguez Hills last week.
 
WEEK IN REVIEW
The Cal State East Bay baseball team took three out of four games from visiting Cal State Dominguez Hills this weekend.
 
The Cal State East Bay baseball team opened their California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) home series against Cal State Dominguez Hills with 5-3 victory Friday afternoon.
 
The Pioneers got tremendous performances from both their pitching staff and their field players. Blake Corsentino (W, 3-2) (Ventura, Calif.) garnered the victory after going 6.2 innings and tied a season-high mark with four strikeouts. Corsentino only allowed six hits, one earned run and walked one batter.
 
Senior Steve Robinson (Yuba City, Calif.) had a career outing from the plate as he crushed his first and second home runs of the 2019 season. Robinson put East Bay ahead 3-0 in the bottom of the fourth inning with a two-run blast over the left center fence. Then in the seventh, Robinson knocked another two-run blast high over the left field wall to give CSUEB a 5-2 lead in the bottom of the seventh inning. Robinson finished the afternoon with two hits, two runs, four RBI and two home runs.
 
The Toros did try to string together a comeback scoring three combined runs in the seventh and eighth innings. But that's when Mark Woinarowicz (S,5) (Yorba Linda, Calif.) came and closed the game out on the mound. Woinarowicz didn't allow any runs and only two hits through 1.2 innings of action. He finished the game with three strikeouts.
 
Junior left-hander Brian Martinez pitched his first career shutout on Saturday to lead the Cal State East Bay baseball team to a narrow 1-0 victory over Cal State Dominguez Hills in the back end of Saturday's doubleheader at Pioneer Field.
 
The Toros broke out offensively to win the first game of the day, 17-2, but the victory for the Pioneers in game two gave them a split of the twinbill and a 2-1 lead over CSUDH in the series heading into Sunday's finale.
 
East Bay did have its bats going early in game one as the home team hung two runs on the scoreboard in the first inning. Ryan McSwain led off with a double, then Ryan Thomasy was hit by a pitch. Two batters later, Kyosuke Ushimaru ripped a double to right field to bring home both runners.
Steve Robinson and Adam Hollar both went 2-for-4 to lead the Pioneers offensively in a game that lasted over three hours and saw the teams combine for 19 runs on 27 hits. It was fitting, then, that game two Saturday afternoon was the exact opposite.
 
An error and a single gave the Toros a promising start to the top of the fourth, but Martinez induced three straight flyouts to end the threat. Then the Pioneers finally broke the scoreless tie in the bottom of the frame. Thomasy shot a single through to hole and Ushimaru belted a double to center to put runners on second and third. Dakota Conners then lined a sacrifice fly to deep center to pick up the RBI.
 
That turned out to be the only run of the game, and it was enough support for Martinez to lock down his team-high fourth victory. The junior stranded two Toros in the fifth, then retired the final six batters in order to secure the shutout. He allowed four hits -- all singles -- and issued just one walk.
 
Thomasy and Ushimaru both went 2-for-3 as the Pioneers totaled just five hits in the win.
 
Right-hander Dylan Dudley turned in his longest outing of the season to earn the victory, and the East Bay bats broke out for nine runs in the first two innings as the Pioneers took control early.
 
After Dudley worked a 1-2-3 inning to open the game, the Pioneers hung five runs on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first. The first six batters all reached base -- five singles and an error -- and four of them scored before the Toros were able to record a single out.
 
CSUDH answered back with two runs off Dudley in the second, but the Pioneers quickly snatched momentum back with a four-run rally in the bottom of the frame. Kyosuke Ushimaru and Steve Robinson each tallied their second RBI single before the game had even reached the third inning.
 
The scoring settled down after that, and Dudley did an outstanding job pitching with a lead. He issued just one walk in his outing, and put up four straight zeroes on the scoreboard before the Toros finally pushed across two more runs in Dudley's final inning of work.
 
Freshman Ethan Brodsky followed him out of the bullpen for the eighth and recorded the final six outs to seal the CSUEB victory. Meanwhile, the Pioneers tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Ryan McSwain and yet another run-scoring single by Ushimaru.
 
East Bay totaled 11 hits in the win and also took advantage of five Dominguez Hills defensive errors. Ushimaru and McSwain both finished with three hits, while Robinson went 2-for-4.
 
 
 
VETERAN SLUGGERS
The Pioneers are batting .279 with a .358 on-base percentage as a team through 33 games, both of which rank ninth in the CCAA. East Bay senior hitter Adam Hollar (.376) is leading the way with has 44 hits, with 18 RBIs and 25 runs scored. Junior Ryan McSwain is second on the Pioneers with a .347 batting average and a .500 slugging percentage, 43 hits, 29 runs scored, two home runs and 62 total bases. Kysosuke Ushimaru (.345) has 40 hits and a team best 27 RBIs and Dakota Conners (.368) who has only appeared in 20 games but has racked up 30 bases, 22 hits and 13 runs scored.
 
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Brian Martinez One day after earning his first California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Pitcher of the Week award, Cal State East Bay junior Brian Martinez has been selected as the West Region Pitcher of the Week by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA).
 
The left-hander from Livermore tossed his first career shutout in game two of Saturday's doubleheader, leading the Pioneers to a dramatic 1-0 win over Cal State Dominguez Hills en route to a 3-1 series victory. He scattered four hits, issued just one walk in seven scoreless innings, notching his third complete game of the season.
 
Steve Robinson batted .500 and racked up 13 total bases to lead the Pioneer baseball team to a 3-1 series victory over CSUDH this past weekend. He opened the series with a career performance, belting two home runs and driving in four runs in a 5-3 win. They were the first two home runs of his East Bay career. He went 2-for-4 with a double and a stolen base in game two, then finished the series Sunday with two more hits and two more RBI. The senior finished 6-for-12, slugged 1.083, and knocked in six runs in four games against the Toros.
 
THIEVING WAYS
East Bay leads all CCAA teams with 41 stolen bases in 59 attempts. Individually, Ryan McSwain (7 SB) and Kyosuke Ushimaru (7 SB) have two of the top ten stolen base totals in the league.
 
HOW DO YOU PRONOUNCE THAT?
CSUEB has a 6.02 team ERA thus far this season. Sophomore Mark Woinarowicz has a 1.05 ERA in 13 appearances. He is holding batters to a .222 batting average and has converted all five of his save opportunities. Starters Brian Martinez (4.44 ERA) and Jacob Nelson (4.72 ERA) lead the Pioneers with 33 and 27 strikeouts on the season. Newcomer Dylan Dudley (3.51 ERA) has all been effective on the mound with 2-2 record and 16 strikeouts through eight appearances.
 
SCOUTING SAN FRANCISCO STATE
The San Francisco State Gators enter their matchup against the Pioneers with a 17-8-1 record on the season with a 15-8 mark in CCAA action. Jose Harris (.342) lead SFSU with 27 hits with four doubles, 13 RBI, 46 total bases and five home runs. On the mound, Joshua Romero leads the Gators with a 3-0 record through 14 appearences and a 1.93 ERA. Romero also leads SF State with six saves and has 15 strikeouts with only six earned runs given up on the season.