LOS ANGELES – Cal State L.A.'s baseball team got a sensational start from Brandon Quintero and picked up a big win in the opener of a four-game California Collegiate Athletic Association series against Sonoma State.
 
Quintero was masterful over seven brilliant innings and led the Golden Eagles to an 8-2 victory at Reeder Field. Cal State L.A. (6-2, 1-0 CCAA) committed two errors in the first inning that led to a pair of unearned runs and then stormed back for the win.
 
Quintero allowed only three hits – just one after the first inning – and struck out a career-high 12. He only walked one and was dominant throughout his start. He should have had seven shutout innings, but two errors after the first two batters were retired in the first led to the only runs of the game for Sonoma State (3-4, 0-1 CCAA).
 
Trent Zaks went 2-for-3 with two RBI and two runs scored to lead an eight-hit offensive attack for the Golden Eagles.
 
Jake Jemini also drove in a pair of runs, while Dakota Hernandez was 2-for-4 with one RBI.
 
Greg Humbert worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the eighth inning with some clutch two-out pitching and Adan Cabrales worked a 1-2-3 ninth inning to wrap things up for the Golden Eagles.
 
Quintero retired the first two batters of the game via strikeout, but an error on a grounder kept the inning going. Eric Ehlow doubled in the first run and he eventually scored on a single by Alex Crosby and an outfield error.
 
Quintero was nearly perfect after that, allowing only a leadoff single in the seventh inning the rest of the way. He retired 14 out of 15 at one point and the only runner to reach did so on a strikeout and wild pitch.
 
The Golden Eagles took advantage of a Sonoma State error to tie things in the third. Zaks had a double and Rodrigo Martinez and Jelmini had back-to-back sacrifice flies to even the score.
 
The Golden Eagles took the lead for good on a run-scoring single by Hernandez in the fifth and struck for two runs in the sixth and seventh innings to break the game open. Kyle Peralta drove in one run with a bad-hop single in the sixth and Jelmini walked with the bases loaded to make it 5-2. Zaks doubled to deep center to drive in two runs in the seventh to make it 7-2.
 
The final run scored in the eighth inning on a double play grounder by Anthony Lombardo.
 
Cal State L.A. will continue the series with a doubleheader against Sonoma State on Saturday beginning at 1 p.m.