HAYWARD, Calif. – On Sunday, Cal State East Bay baseball won a CCAA series finale against Cal State LA, 5-3 and won the four-game series, 3-1.
Cal State East Bay took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning.
Essex Brown Jr. singled, then reached third base after an error. Brown Jr. scored from third base on a sacrifice fly RBI hit by
Luke Novitske.
The Golden Eagles answered with three runs in the top of the second inning to lead 3-1.
In the bottom of the third,
Samuel Esparza hit an RBI triple to drive in
Niko Mollat, then scored the tying run on an RBI groundout by
Luke Brown as the game was even at 3-3.
The Pioneers broke the tie in the bottom of the fifth inning when Novitske singled for his second RBI of the game, driving in Esparza.
The lead was extended to 5-3 in the bottom of the eighth inning when
Jacob Klinovsky entered as a pinch hitter and delivered an RBI single to left field, as
Manny Garcia scored CSUEB's fifth run of the game.
James Colyer entered the game in the top of the ninth, and picked up his fifth save of the season after retiring the side, closing out a 5-3 victory for the Pioneers.
Tristin Tatum picked up his second win of the season on the mound with three runs allowed and three strikeouts, pitching six innings.
- Through Sunday's CCAA action, the Pioneers and Cal Poly Pomona are tied for fifth place in the conference standings.
- Brown Jr., Garcia and Cole Anderson had two hits each on Sunday.
- Esparza's triple was his third of the season to lead the team in the category.
- Anderson is currently on an eight game hitting streak. His .379 batting average leads the Pioneers and is fifth in the CCAA through Sunday.
- In eight of the last nine games, Brown Jr. has at least one stolen base. His 25 stolen bases is currently most in the CCAA. In his career at CSUEB, he has 58 stolen bases, which is third most in program history and just one shy of tying for second most.
Cal State East Bay: 22-19, 16-15 CCAA
Cal State LA: 16-24, 11-20 CCAA
The Pioneers play a single game this coming Tuesday at San Francisco State in CCAA action with first pitch set for 3 p.m. The game is a make up game from a postponement originally scheduled February 26. SF State won two of three games in the season series thus far with Cal State East Bay.
