LOS ANGELES – Cal State LA's baseball team rallied impressively to complete a series-sweep over nationally-ranked California Baptist.
 
The Golden Eagles scored six runs in their final three at bats to overtake the Lancers, 7-4, Saturday afternoon at Reeder Field. Cal State LA (3-0) completed its first series sweep of California Baptist, which was ranked eighth and 14^th in two national preseason polls.
 
C.J. Broussard, Jr. put the finishing touches on a tremendous series. After hitting three home runs in the first two games of the series, he delivered a three-run double in the eighth inning to give the Golden Eagles a 7-3 lead. For the series, Broussard hit .364 with three home runs, three runs scored, seven runs batted in and a slugging percentage of 1.273. He had an on-base percentage of .500 and also was the winning pitcher in Thursday opener after tossing 7 1/3 outstanding innings.
 
Andrew Hermanson had a two-out, go-ahead single in the seventh inning to score Nathan Navarrete and give the Golden Eagles a 4-3 lead.
 
Hermanson was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and the RBI, while Sean Watkins was 2-for-4 with a run scored and Navarrete scored a pair of runs.
 
Ryan Williams and Tommy Bell had home runs for California Baptist.
 
Saxon Andross had an encouraging first start for Cal State LA after a rocky first inning. After the first four California Baptist batters reached base and accounted for two runs, Andross got a double-play ball and a grounder to get out of the inning without further damage. He settled in nicely after that and wound up going 4 1/3 innings. He allowed seven hits and three runs.
 
Brandon Zavala worked the next 1 1/3 innings and didn't allow a run and James Mendez got the win after blanking the Lancers on two hits over the next 2 1/3 innings. Gabriel Gentner closed out the ninth inning for a third straight game, although he did not pick up his third save of the season because Cal State LA had a four-run lead entering the ninth.
 
Justin Montgomery allowed only three hits and one run over five innings for California Baptist. Brody Robinson allowed three unearned runs and took the hard-luck defeat for the Lancers.
 
After a solo home run by Williams leading off the game and an infield single by Bell staked the Lancers to a 2-0 lead, the Golden Eagles cut the margin in half in the fourth. Hermanson singled up the middle to lead off the inning, took second on a one-out grounder by Isaac Dominguez and scored on a single by Angel Sanchez.
 
California Baptist made it 3-1 in the fifth, but Cal State LA got that run back in the sixth. Dominguez delivered a hard-hit sacrifice fly to make it 3-2.
 
Watkins drilled a one-out double to right to start the go-ahead rally in the seventh. The Golden Eagles got a big break when Navarrete's grounder to short was thrown away while trying to catch Watkins at third. Watkins came into score to tie the game and Navarrete took second. After Broussard was intentionally walked for the second time in the game, Hermanson singled with two outs to drive in Navarrete.
 
In the eighth, the Golden Eagles loaded the bases when Sanchez was hit by a pitch, Drew Seelman singled and Navarrete was hit by a pitch. With no open bases, California Baptist had to pitch to Broussard and he promptly cleared the bases with a line drive to the right-centerfield gap.
 
Cal State LA will return to action with the opener of a four-game series against Northwest Nazarene on Thursday at 6 p.m. at Reeder Field.