HAYWARD, Calif. – The Cal State East Bay baseball team welcomed Cal State San Marcos to Pioneer Baseball Field for a four-game CCAA series that started Friday afternoon. The Pioneers would score all of their runs in the last four innings of play en route to a 9-4 victory over the Cougars.

The Cougars scored the first two runs of the game, but the offense for Cal State East Bay started to produce in the bottom of the fifth inning. Luke Novitske got the Pioneers on the board with a solo home run, which was his first of the season. In the sixth inning, the Pioneers added two runs – one on a Francisco Pedraza sacrifice fly to center field that scored Essex Brown Jr. and one on a Jacob Klinovsky RBI single to right field that scored Manny Garcia.

In the top of the seventh, the Cougars would score on a Mark Stanford single to right field that scored Ethan Rivera to even the game at 3-3.

In the bottom of the seventh, The Pioneers exploded for four runs with two coming on a Garcia single to center field that scored Donovan Bailey and Brown Jr., one coming on a Novitske single to center field that scored Garcia and one on a wild pitch that scored Pedraza. Although the Cougars would score again in the top of the eighth, the Pioneers would add their final tallies in the bottom of the eighth – one on a Brown Jr. triple to center field that scored Bailey and one coming when Brown Jr. stole home.

Mark Woinarowicz got the win for the Pioneers, his fifth of the season, and Conner Gleissner got the loss for the Cougars. Woinarowicz pitched seven innings and struck out nine. Garcia and Novitske paced the Pioneers offense going 2-for-4.  

"Solid performance today by [Jackson Ellis] and Woinarowicz," said CSUEB head coach Mike Cummins. "Donovan Bailey gave us a lift offensively. Some timely hitting late in the game." 

The Pioneers and Cougars will play a doubleheader on Saturday at Pioneer Baseball Field. First pitch for game one is set for noon and game two is set for 3 p.m.