PhotosLOS ANGELES – Cal State L.A.'s baseball team saw its losing streak reach seven Thursday night with a loss to Cal State San Bernardino.
The Golden Eagles managed only two hits and committed five errors in a 5-2 loss to the Coyotes in the opener of a four-game California Collegiate Athletic Association series. Cal State L.A. (23-18, 18-15 CCAA) struggled out of the gates at Reeder Field, falling behind 5-0 and failing to score until the eighth inning.
Cal State San Bernardino (10-32, 8-25 CCAA) collected eight hits and rode the strong pitching of Tyler Wells and Ruben Rios, who combined for 15 strikeouts. The Coyotes were able to snap a six-game losing streak.
Cal State L.A. starter
Greg Humbert pitched well, but was victimized by some shaky defense behind him. In addition to the five errors, the Golden Eagles also threw to the wrong base twice and were unable to turn a double play because of a misplayed grounder. Humbert went seven innings and allowed seven hits and only two earned runs.
Mitchell Moore pitched a scoreless eighth inning and
James Mendez pitched a scoreless ninth inning.
Wells had a shutout until two outs in the eighth when Cal State L.A.'s
Dakota Hernandez knocked him from the game with a two-run double to the right-centerfield wall. Wells gave up just two hits and two runs while walking five and striking out 12. Rios got the final four outs, three of them by strikeout to earn his first save of the season.
The Coyotes bunched together three hits for two runs in the first inning. After a groundball base hit by Aaron Owen, Warren Fishback doubled to send Owen to third. Trevor Williams hit a grounder to first, but instead of touching the bag for the second out, the throw home was late and the Coyotes had a 1-0 lead. Instead of the inning then ending with a groundout by Grant Buchanan, Fishback scored from third, giving Buchanan an RBI and the Coyotes a 2-0 advantage.
Cal State San Bernardino then took advantage of two errors in the second that led to two more runs. Dillon Fahr reached on an error and later scored on a throwing error from the outfield following a single by Damion Edmonds. Edmonds reached third on the play and scored on a grounder to third by Owen that was thrown to first rather than home.
Cal State San Bernardino got its final run in the fourth on a run-scoring single by Owen.
The Golden Eagles didn't muster any offense until the eighth when
Trent Zaks drew a one-out walk and
Jesus Cuevas drew a two-out walk. Hernandez then belted a 3-2 pitch to the right-centerfield wall to drive in both runners, but Rios came on to get the final out of the inning. He then pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to end it.
Cal State L.A. will continue the four-game series with a doubleheader in San Bernardino on Friday beginning at 2:30 p.m.
