Box Score

RIVERSIDE – Cal State L.A.'s baseball team started its 2012 season with a bang.
 
The Golden Eagles collected 18 hits and got solid efforts from four pitchers to beat California Baptist, 15-5, in the season opener for both programs Wednesday at Totman Stadium.
 
Cal State L.A. scored three runs in the opening inning and never looked back. The Golden Eagles scored runs in seven of the nine innings played in the opener of a four-game series between NCAA Division II West Region opponents.
 
Gabriel Asakura pitched the first four innings for the Golden Eagles and allowed five hits and two runs. He walked two and struck out two. Nick Rodarte pitched the next three innings and gave up three hits and one run while walking two and striking out three. He picked up the win.
 
Sergio Luna pitched a scoreless eighth innings for the Golden Eagles and Daniel Duran got the final two outs in the ninth inning.
 
Manny Acosta led the offensive charge with four hits in five at bats, three runs scored and three runs batted in. Scott Masik also had four hits in the leadoff spot for the Golden Eagles, while Chad Nacapoy had two hits, including a home run. He drove in three runs.
 
James Wharton scored three runs, while Duran had a pair of hits and scored twice. Andrew Allen scored twice and drove in two.
 
Kevin Odom and Matt Daugherty had three hits each for the Lancers (0-1), the longtime NAIA powers who are now newcomers in the NCAA Division II Pacific West Conference. California Baptist had 13 hits, but left 13 runners on base and committed five errors.
 
The Golden Eagles got off to a good start and scored three times in the first. Acosta had the big hit in the inning, a two-out, two-run double. Cal State L.A. made it 4-0 in the second when Peter Straka doubled, took third on a wild pitch and scored on a single by Nacapoy.
 
California Baptist scored twice in the bottom of the inning off Asakura, but the Golden Eagles' returning All-American blanked the Lancers over his final two innings of work.
 
Cal State L.A. scored twice in the fifth to make it 6-2. Jesus Cuevas drove in a run with a fielder's choice and the second run scored on an error. Nacapoy homered in the sixth inning for the Golden Eagles to make it 7-2.
 
The Golden Eagles then scored four times in the seventh and three more times in the eighth to break it open. Allen had a two-run single in the seventh, while Cuevas had a run-scoring double and Straka had a run-scoring single in the eighth.
 
Cal State L.A. will continue the four-game series against California Baptist with a home game on Thursday at 6 p.m. at Reeder Field. Golden Eagle soccer coach Chris Chamides, whose men's team won CCAA and West Region championships in the fall, is scheduled to throw out the first pitch.