Box Score

LOS ANGELES – Cal State L.A.'s baseball team dug itself a big hole early and was unable to climb all the back in a California Collegiate Athletic Association contest against Cal Poly Pomona.

 

The Golden Eagles fell behind 6-0 after three innings and saw a late comeback bid fall short in the ninth inning of a 7-4 loss to the Broncos Friday at Reeder Field. Cal State L.A. (14-17, 12-10 CCAA) had the tying runs on base in the ninth inning, but left them stranded.

 

The Golden Eagles trailed entering the ninth, 7-3, but pushed a run across when Mario Ramirez was hit by a pitch with two outs and the bases loaded. Cal Poly Pomona reliever Joshua Krist, though, rebounded and got the conference's leading hitter, Sam Wiley, to ground out to second to end it.

 

Krist picked up his sixth save of the season, although he wobbled a bit, allowing three hits and hitting a pair of batters in two innings of work. He saved the win for Cal Poly Pomona starter Jordan Attard, who pitched seven solid innings. Attard allowed seven hits and three runs to pick up his first victory of the season.

 

Matt Miraldi and Jordan Castro had two hits each for the Golden Eagles, while Stephen Gonzalez hit a two-run home run and had two hits for the Broncos. Both teams had 10 hits in the game.

 

The Golden Eagles were able to mount a comeback thanks to some outstanding relief work from Mark Sunga, who blanked the Broncos over five innings to keep the game close. Cal Poly Pomona finally touched him for a run in the ninth, but Sunga wound up going 5 2/3 innings and allowing only five hits and one run.

 

Cal State L.A., though, got off to a slow start. A potential double-play grounder in the second that was misplayed just enough to permit only a single out led to four Cal Poly Pomona runs. Instead of the inning being over, the Broncos had a man on second with two outs and Cal Poly Pomona cashed in with an RBI single by Robert Palmer, a two-run single by Tyson Edwards and a Cal State L.A. passed ball.

 

The Broncos made it 6-0 in the third inning on a two-run home run by Gonzalez that also drove in Travis Tiajeron, who led off the inning with a triple.

 

Cal State L.A. chipped away at the deficit with single runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, but the Golden Eagles were unable to produce a big inning. Ramirez doubled to lead off the fourth inning and scored on a two-out single by Castro to make it 6-1. Chris Matzner delivered a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning to drive in Jesus Campos and make it 6-2 and a two-out single by Max Moya drove in Miraldi in the sixth to make it 6-3.

 

Cal Poly Pomona was able to extend its lead to 7-3 in the ninth on a double by Erik Riedel and a run-scoring single by Taijeron. Matt Clark came on with two outs in relief of Sunga and got the final out on his first pitch.

 

That set the stage for a tense ninth inning. Campos was hit by a pitch with one out and Joe Park followed with a single. Cliff Quick then singled to load the bases and, after Chris Matzner fouled out for the second out, Ramirez was hit by a pitch for the second time in the game to force in a run. Wiley then hit a sharp grounder to second to end the threat.

 

Cal State L.A. and Cal Poly Pomona will conclude the four-game conference series with a doubleheader in Pomona beginning at noon.