HAYWARD, Calif. — No. 16 Cal State East Bay stayed alive in the NCAA Division II West Regional on Friday, battling through two elimination games to advance to Saturday's championship round at Pioneer Field.

The Pioneers opened the day with a dramatic 8-7 comeback win over Concordia University Irvine before rolling past Western Washington, 9-1, later in the afternoon.

East Bay now advances to the West Regional championship round and will need to defeat Biola University twice on Saturday to earn a spot in the NCAA Division II Super Regional.

The opening game tested everything.

After jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning behind RBI hits from Jasmyn Morales, Ava Benavides and Macie Mead, East Bay quickly found itself trailing after Concordia answered with five runs in the bottom half and added two more in the second.

Facing a four-run deficit in an elimination game, the Pioneers responded one inning at a time.

Jeslyn Cuellar homered in the fourth before Morales added a solo shot in the fifth to cut the margin to 7-5. The breakthrough came in the sixth.

Isabel Mercado sparked the inning with a single before Sarissa Block launched a game-tying two-run home run to left. Moments later, Cuellar singled and eventually scored on an RBI double from Cynthia Carrillo, giving East Bay its first lead since the opening inning.

From there, the Pioneers closed it out.

Jaidyn Gamble delivered six innings of relief to earn the win after entering in the second inning, helping settle the game down after the early offensive surge from Concordia.

The momentum carried directly into game two.

East Bay erupted for seven runs in the first inning against Western Washington and never let the Vikings recover. Morales opened the scoring with an RBI single before Carrillo, Reagan Hallett, Jennavee Campos and Block all contributed run-scoring hits during the frame.

The Pioneers continued to apply pressure from there.

Morales homered in the second, Campos added another solo shot in the third, and Marissa Quintero handled the rest in the circle. Quintero tossed a complete-game performance, allowing just one run on two hits as East Bay closed out the 9-1 victory in five innings.

Across the two wins, East Bay totaled 25 hits and showed the depth of its lineup throughout the day. Morales combined for six hits and four RBIs, while Cuellar, Carrillo, Campos and Block each delivered key extra-base hits in critical moments.

With the two victories, No. 16 Cal State East Bay advances to the NCAA West Regional championship round. The Pioneers will face Biola University on Saturday at 12:00 p.m. and must win twice to advance to the NCAA Division II Super Regional.