SAN FRANCISCO -- Cal State L.A.'s baseball team had a few anxious moments Sunday before securing a victory that meant a split in its four-game series at San Francisco State.
The Golden Eagles got seven shutout innings from
Icezack Flemming and then held on during a nervewracking 5-4 win at Maloney Field. Cal State L.A. (11-4, 6-2 CCAA) won the second and fourth games of the four-game series against San Francisco State (4-10, 3-5 CCAA).
Flemming had his second outstanding start. After tossing a nine-inning shutout last Sunday against Sonoma State, Flemming threw seven more shutout innings against the Gators.
Adan Cabrales retired the only batter he faced and
Marcos Casillas retired the only two batters he faced to send the Golden Eagles into the ninth inning with a 5-0 lead.
Chris Oropesa then walked a tightrope in the ninth inning. The Gators started their rally with one out and strung together four runs after two were out before Oropesa got the final out on a fly out to left with the tying and winning runs on base.
Cal State L.A. had 11 hits, while San Francisco State wound up with 12.
Rodrigo Martinez had a big two-run single in the eighth inning.
Jake Jelmini,
Nick Osuna and
Paul Martinez all had two hits each and
Trent Zaks was 1-for-3 with one run scored and one RBI.
The game was scoreless into the fifth inning when the Golden Eagles got their first run. Zaks had a run-scoring single to drive in
David Trejo.
The Golden Eagles made it 2-0 in the sixth inning when
Jesus Cuevas hit a triple and scored on a single by
Nick Osuna. The Golden Eagles made it 3-0 in the seventh when a double play grounder Cuevas enabled Zaks to score.
Rodrigo Martinez then hit his two-run single in the eighth to drive in
Paul Martinez and Osuna.
That set the stage for the exciting ninth inning.
Cal State L.A. will return to action on Thursday with the opener of a four-game conference series at Cal State Dominguez Hills. The two teams will play a doubleheader at Reeder Field on Friday and conclude with a single game at Cal State Dominguez Hills on Saturday.
