HAYWARD, Calif. – The Cal State East Bay baseball team split Saturday's CCAA doubleheader with Cal State San Marcos at Pioneer Baseball Field winning the first game 8-6, but losing the second game 6-1 in seven innings.
Game One – CSU East Bay 8, CSU San Marcos 6
In the bottom of the first inning, Luke Novitske singled to center field to drive in a pair of runs for a 2-0 lead. Manny Garcia and Francisco Pedraza scored on the play.
In the top of the third inning, the Cougars tied the game at 2-2 on a Luke Reece single to right field to drive in Adam Chadwick and Emilio Luna.
The Pioneers regained the lead in the bottom of the third inning on a Pedraza double to center field that scored Essex Brown Jr. and Samuel Esparza.
The Cougars scored a run in the top of the fourth inning on a Kevin Van Linge single to center field that scored Pat MacDonald Jr.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Pioneers added a run on a Jacob Froess RBI single to center that scored Matthew O'Mahony for a 5-3 lead. The Pioneers pulled away with three runs in the bottom of the seventh with two coming on an error by the first baseman that scored Brown Jr. and Esparza and one on a Novitske RBI ground out to the shortstop that scored Garcia. Although the Cougars scored three runs in the top of the eighth to close the gap to two runs, 8-6, they got no closer as Cal State East Bay took game one, 8-6.
The win went to Blake Campbell for the Pioneers, improving to 2-0, and the loss went to Nolan Long for the Cougars, with Ethan Brodsky piking up his first save of the season. Pedraza went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and a run scored.
Game Two – CSU East Bay 6, CSU San Marcos 1
The Cougars scored a pair of runs in the top of the first, third and fourth innings for a 6-0 lead. The Pioneers got their only run in the bottom of the fourth on a Pedraza RBI ground out to the shortstop that scored Brown Jr.
The win went to Garrett Apker for the Cougars and Garrison Fink got the loss for the Pioneers. Both Brown Jr. and Esparza went 1-for-2 in game two.
The Pioneers and Cougars will play the final game of their series on Sunday at 11 a.m. from Pioneer Baseball Field.