LOS ANGELES – Cal State L.A.'s baseball team got a busy weekend off to a promising start on Friday.
The Golden Eagles got a strong starting pitching performance from
Brandon Quintero and a 14-hit offensive attack to beat the University of British Columbia, 12-5, Friday at Reeder Field. Cal State L.A. (2-2) scored six times in the sixth inning to finally get some breathing room against the Thunderbirds (9-4).
Trent Zaks hit a go-ahead two-run home run in the second inning and
Dakota Hernandez had three doubles and drove in three runs to pace the Golden Eagles.
Kyle Peralta scored three runs, while
Jake Jelmini and
Nick Osuna each had two hits and drove in two runs.
Ryan Welker went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and also threw out two baserunners trying to steal.
Quintero allowed 10 hits and four runs (only two earned) in seven innings. He didn't walk a batter and struck out seven. He struggled early and gave up two first-inning runs, but he tossed five straight scoreless innings before giving up a pair of unearned runs in the seventh.
Adan Cabrales pitched a scoreless eighth inning for the Golden Eagles and
Travis Hawley finished up by allowing one run in the ninth.
Conor Lillis-White allowed seven hits and four earned runs in 5 1/3 innings for British Columbia. Tyler Ennis had a good day at the plate, going 4-for-5 in the leadoff spot, scoring once and driving in one. Jerod Bartnik went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBI and Brody Hawkins had two hits. The top three batters in the Thunderbirds' lineup went 9-for-14.
After British Columbia took a 2-0 lead in the first, the Golden Eagles got one run back in the bottom of the inning on a run-scoring double by Osuna and then took the lead when Zaks smacked a two-run home run to left-center in the second.
Cal State L.A. made it 4-2 in the fifth when Hernandez scored on a wild pitch.
The Golden Eagles scored six times to make it 10-2 in the sixth. Jelmini had a two-run double to left, Hernandez had a run-scoring double, Osuna had a run-scoring single and
David Trejo had a run-scoring single to highlight the inning.
Hernandez had a two-run double for the Golden Eagles in the seventh to complete their scoring.
