HAYWARD, Calif., -- The Cal State East Bay baseball team wrapped up their "Battle of the Bays" California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) series against rival Cal State Monterey Bay with a tough, 15-5 defeat Sunday afternoon at Pioneer Baseball Field.
 
The Pioneers move to 11-9 overall on the season with a 7-9 mark in CCAA action after going 0-4 in their series against the Otters.
 
The weather in the Hayward Hills was perfect for baseball but it both teams had trouble controlling the ball as the squads combined for seven total errors.
 
Monterey Bay came out of the games aggressive offensively as they racked up six runs through the first two innings. East Bay answered with two runs in the bottom of the third inning to cut the CSUMB lead to 6-2. But in the top of the fourth inning the visiting Otters exploded for nine runs to take a 15-2 advantage. The Pioneers would rally to score two runs in the seventh and one final run in the ninth, but ultimately could not covert the comeback attempt.
 
Despite the final score, CSUEB recorded 12 total hits in the ballgame paced by a quartet of Pioneers notching multi hit performances. Kaleb Keelean paced East Bay with two hits, including a double with two RBI. Samuel Esparza tallied two hits while scoring three of the Pios five runs. Jordan Macias finished with two hits and an RBI while Matthew Mandeville came in midway through the game and compiled two hits through three at-bats.
 
Ransome Alexander (L, 3-1) was issued his first loss of the season after tossing three innings and totaling two strikeouts. Matt Woinarowicz registered one strikeout through 0.2 innings of work on the hill. Kyle Basch did not give up any runs while facing seven batters. Connor Fleharty recorded two strikeouts through 2.0 innings of work on the mound. Adrian Padilla logged one strikeout and Mark Woinarowicz finished the game on the mound for East Bay striking out two of the three batters he faced.
 
Ryan McSwain compiled an RBI triple and scored a run for East Bay while AJ Curtis netted a hit and an RBI. Robert Lujan finished with a hit and a run scored and Francisco Pedraza chipped in one hit for the Pios.
 
The Pioneers will look to get back to their winning ways when they head south for La Jolla for a four-game CCAA series against No. 3 UC San Diego March, 13-15 at Triton Ballpark.