HAYWARD, Calif., -- The Cal State East Bay baseball team will hit the road for a four-game California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) series against Sonoma State beginning Thursday, April 18 through Saturday, April 20 at Seawolf Diamond.
 
East Bay sits at 15-22 overall on the season with a 12-19 mark in league action after going 1-3 in their home series against San Francisco State over the weekend.
 
WEEK IN REVIEW
The Cal State East Bay baseball team opened their Bay Bridge home series against San Francisco State with a 10-3 defeat on Friday afternoon, April 12 at Pioneer Baseball Field.
 
The contest started off tight as both starting pitchers were tin total command on the mound. Blake Corsentino (L, 3-3) (Ventura, Calif.) got the start for the Pioneers and tossed five innings. Corsentino logged two first inning punch outs and he finished the game allowing just four earned runs and three walks.
 
Despite the score, East Bay was able to out-hit the SF State 12-9 on the afternoon led by three hits apiece from senior Dakota Conners (Manteca, Calif.) and junior Robert Lujan (Reno, Nev.). Conners knocked a lead-off double in the bottom of the first inning for the Pioneer first hit of the ballgame. He also drew a walk and stole a base. Lujan notched RBI singles in the fourth inning to put the Pioneers on the board and in the bottom of the eighth inning to score CSUEB's final run of the game. He also racked up a stolen base.
 
Senior outfielder Kyosuke Ushimaru (Tokyo, Japan) also provided a spark for the Pioneers with a home run to deep center field to break East Bay's scoring drought in the bottom of the eighth. For Ushimaru it was his team-leading third homer of the season as he finished the ball game with a hit, an RBI and a run scored.
 
The senior duo of Adam Hollar (Livermore, Calif.) and Steve Robinson (Yuba City, Calif.) both turned in multi-hit performances for Cal State East Bay. Hollar singled in the sixth and eighth innings and also scored two of the Pioneers three runs in the fourth and eighth innings. Robinson continued his hot hand from last weekend with singles in the fourth and eighth innings.
 
Kyle Basch (San Carlos, Calif.) pitched the sixth inning for CSUEB and logged one strikeout with one earned run given up. Ransome Alexander (Fullerton, Calif.) took the mound for the Pioneers in the seventh and eighth innings and only allowed two hits and one earned run. Conner Fleaharty (Redding, Calif.) concluded the contest for the Pioneers and struck out one batter while giving up one hit.
 
The Cal State East Bay baseball team split its doubleheader with visiting San Francisco State Saturday on a gorgeous afternoon at Pioneer Field.
 
The Gators won the first game of the day by a score of 8-3, but the Pioneers rallied back in game two for a 7-1 victory on the strength of Brian Martinez's fourth complete game of the season. SFSU leads the four-game series 2-1 heading into Sunday's finale.
 
The split gives the Pioneers an overall record of 15-21 with a mark of 12-18 in the team's first 30 California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) games.
 
The first game of the day saw the Gators take an early lead with a run in the first off starter Ethan Brodsky. The freshman hung a couple zeroes on the scoreboard after that, allowing the Pioneers to tie the score with a run in the third. A double by Omar Sanchez and an opposite field single by Robert Lujan made it 1-1, and started off an impressive day at the plate for Lujan.
 
SFSU re-took the lead in the fourth, then broke it open with five runs in the fifth. It took three Pioneer pitchers to record three outs despite the Gators getting just two hits in the frame. They took advantage of three walks, two hit-by-pitches, an error, and six wild pitches to grab control of the game.
 
East Bay did manage to answer with a scoring rally of their own in the bottom of the fifth. Joey Dice ripped a solo home run into the trees beyond left field to lead things off, then the Pioneers manufactured another run on a triple by Dakota Conners and an RBI single by Kyosuke Ushimaru.
 
Unfortunately, that was all the offense they could muster in game one. Ushimaru, Sanchez, Lujan, and Dice all finished with two hits as the Pioneers tallied 10 total hits in the loss.
 
Martinez took the ball for game two, and the reigning CCAA Pitcher of the Week picked up right where he left off. The left-hander retired the Gators in order in the first and got a double play to escape a jam in the second on a nifty play by shortstop Nicholas Enrico. Then in the bottom of the second inning, the Pioneers finally came up with a big hit to take their first lead of the series.
 
Ushimaru and Lujan opened the frame with back-to-back singles, but they were still standing on first and second two batters later after a pair of strikeouts. That brought up Matt Cantelme, who blasted his first home run of the season over the left field fence to bring both runners home and give the Pioneers a 3-0 lead.
 
That was enough support for Martinez, although the Pioneers provided him with even more in the fifth. CSUEB scored four runs on six hits in that inning -- including doubles by Lujan, Adam Hollar, and Steve Robinson -- to break the game open.
 
For the second straight week Martinez was effective and efficient, needing just 89 pitches to go the distance. He scattered five hits and issued one walk, the only blemish coming on a solo home run in the top of the sixth. His four complete games this year lead all CCAA pitchers, and his five victories tie him for fifth in the conference.
 
The Pioneers only batted six times in the second game of the twinbill, but they nonetheless banged out 11 hits. Lujan was a perfect 3-for-3 with a pair of doubles, while Ushimaru and Robinson both went 2-for-3.
 
VETERAN SLUGGERS
The Pioneers are batting .283 with a .359 on-base percentage as a team through 37 games, both of which rank sixth and ninth in the CCAA. East Bay senior hitter Adam Hollar (.369) is leading the way with has 48 hits, with 19 RBIs and 28 runs scored. Junior Ryan McSwain is third on the Pioneers with a .338 batting average and second with a .489 slugging percentage, 45 hits, 29 runs scored, two home runs and 65 total bases. Kysosuke Ushimaru (.351) has 46 hits and a team best 30 RBIs and Steve Robinson (.325) is leading CSUEB with a .504 slugging percentage to go along with 38 hits, including 13 doubles, 25 RBI and 21 runs scored.
 
THIEVING WAYS
East Bay leads all CCAA teams with 47 stolen bases in 68 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 5.85 team ERA thus far this season. Sophomore Mark Woinarowicz has a 1.88 ERA in 14 appearances. He is holding batters to a .238 batting average and has converted on five of six his save opportunities. Starters Brian Martinez (4.07 ERA) and Jacob Nelson (5.00 ERA) lead the Pioneers with 37 and 28 strikeouts on the season. Newcomer Dylan Dudley (2.84 ERA) has all been effective on the mound with 2-2 record, including a shutout and 21 strikeouts through nine appearances.
 
SCOUTING SONOMA STATE
The Sonoma State Seawolves enter their home series against the Pioneers with a 20-18 overall mark on the season with a 18-15 record in CCAA after splitting their road series against Monterey Bay last weekend. Zach Guardino and Kory Brown are leading the Seawolves at the plates. Guardino has 44 hits, 24 RBIs and two home runs and Brown is adding 43 hits, 23 RBI and eight doubles. John Cashman is tops on the Sonoma State rotation with a 4-1 record on the mound and 39 strikeouts.