LOS ANGELES -- Cal State LA's baseball team endured a rough start once again to Stanislaus State and fell short in the series finale on Sunday.
The Golden Eagles fell into a 6-0 hole and never recovered in an 11-5 loss to the Warriors in a California Collegiate Athletic Association contest at Reeder Field. Cal State LA (20-20, 13-17 CCAA) lost all three games to the Warriors (27-14, 17-13 CCAA), who won their seventh straight game.
It wasn't a clean game by the Golden Eagles, who committed five errors and stranded 10 runners on base. Cal State LA struck for nine hits, including a three-run home run by
Nathan Navarrete and a solo home run by
Sean Watkins. Navarrete hit his fourth home run of the season and his second in as many days, while Watkins hit his conference-leading 13th. Watkins was 3-for-3 with a double and home run.
Isaac Dominguez had a pair of hits in four at bats.
Stanislaus State also had nine hits. Nick Ippolito was 1-for-3 and scored three runs, while Jack Large drove in three runs.
Stewart Alexander, who had a 1.95 earned run average entering the game, allowed six hits and one run over six innings to get the win for the Warriors.
George Alamillo started for the Golden Eagles and wasn't helped much by his defense. He allowed three hits and three earned runs over the first three innings.
Gabriel Gentner allowed three hits and two earned runs over six innings. Watkins pitched 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief,
Daniel Ferrell, after a strong relief outing on Saturday, retired the only two batters he faced and
Robbie Stowell got the only batter he faced in the ninth inning.
The Warriors bunched together three hits, a walk and two Cal State LA errors to take a 4-0 lead in the first inning and never looked back. Cal State LA got on the board in the fifth inning on a sacrifice fly by Dominguez, but Stanislaus State tacked on five more runs in the seventh to make it 11-1.
Navarrete followed a two-out walk by Ayala and a single by Dominguez with a three-run home run to right-center field and Watkins finished the scoring with a towering shot for a home run just inside the left-field foul pole.
Cal State LA will open a four-game series against UC San Diego with a home game on Thursday at 6 p.m.
