Game 1 Box

Game 2 Box

HAYWARD – Cal State L.A.'s baseball team saw its hopes for a spot in the four-team California Collegiate Athletic Association Championship Tournament come to an end with a disappointing doubleheader split Monday at Cal State East Bay.
 
Needing to win twice to keep its postseason hopes alive, Cal State L.A. escaped with a 6-5 win in the opener, only to fall 8-6 in the nightcap. The Golden Eagles (25-19, 21-17) committed five errors in the nightcap after permitting five unearned runs because of errors in the opener. Cal State L.A. had seven errors in the doubleheader.
 
Cal State L.A.'s road record fell to 8-15 with the split and effectively knocked the Golden Eagles out of the postseason. Cal State L.A. was 17-4 at Reeder Field this season.
 
The only real bright spot on Monday came at the plate courtesy of the CCAA's leading hitter, Daniel Duran, who had another huge day. Duran was 4-for-4 with two home runs and four RBI in the nightcap after going 2-for-2 with a double and three walks in the opener. He was 6-for-6 with two home runs, a double, three runs scored and six RBI in the doubleheader. He raised his batting average to .457.
 
Duran and James Wharton hit back-to-back home runs in the sixth inning and Scott Masik added a home run in the seventh that pulled the Golden Eagles to within one run at 7-6, but Cal State L.A. saw its last seven batters retired in order to end the game. The Golden Eagles left the bases loaded in the seventh and didn't get a base runner in the final two innings.
 
A pair of errors led to a four-run inning in the second inning that put the Golden Eagles in an early hole. Duran homered in the fourth to make it 4-2, but Cal State East Bay added two more runs in the bottom of the fourth to extend its lead.
 
In the opener, Ryan Santhon worked seven strong innings and picked up his fourth win of the season. He gave up seven hits and four unearned runs. He didn't walk a batter and struck out seven. Jacob Valenzuela gave up an unearned run in the eighth inning that made it 6-5 and Sergio Luna worked a 1-2-3 ninth inning to pick up his second save.
 
Jeremy Weber was 2-for-5 with two runs scored and Masik scored a pair of runs in the opener. Cal State L.A. stranded 14 runners in the opener, but managed to win.

Brian Compton singled in a run in the first to give the Golden Eagles the lead and Joe Park squeezed in a run and Duran followed with a run-scoring single in the second to make it 3-0. After Cal State East Bay took advantage of an error in the third inning to score twice, Weber doubled and scored on a double by Duran to make it 4-2. Masik doubled and later scored on a bases-loaded walk to Wharton and Nick Rodarte contributed a sacrifice fly to make it 6-2.

Those runs proved critical when Cal State East Bay scored three unearned runs in the eighth. 

Cal State L.A., which is ranked sixth in the West Region, will conclude its regular season with a four-game series at Dixie State beginning on Friday.