HAYWARD -- Cal State LA's baseball team was able to hang on for an important California Collegiate Athletic Association victory Sunday at Cal State East Bay.
The Golden Eagles led 5-1 entering the eighth inning and got some clutch relief pitching from
George Alamillo to edge the Pioneers, 5-4, at Pioneer Field. Cal State LA (5-4, 2-2 CCAA) earned a split of the four-game conference series after dropping both ends of a doubleheader on Saturday to Cal State East Bay (5-5, 2-2 CCAA).
Saxon Andross was outstanding for Cal State LA on Sunday, allowing only four hits and one run over seven strong innings. He walked one and struck out five while picking up his first win of the season. Alamillo got the final five outs of the game, three via strikeout, to pick up his first save.
Anthony Moreno went 2-for-4 with two RBI and
Anthony Ayala was 2-for-5 with one run scored for the Golden Eagles. Kiyosuke Ushimaru was 2-for-4 with two RBI for the Pioneers. Both teams had eight hits in the game.
Jordan Peabody and
Nate Alam also had runs batted in for the Golden Eagles.
Moreno's run-scoring single that scored Peabody gave the Golden Eagles a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth, but the Pioneers responded with a run in the bottom of the inning to tie it at 1-1.
Ayala doubled, took third on a single by
Jorge Garcia and scored on a sacrifice fly by Peabody to give the Golden Eagles a 2-1 led in the fifth and Moreno delivered a sacrifice fly later in the inning to make it 3-1.
The Golden Eagles added a run in the sixth when
Andre Gregory drew a one-out walk and later scored when Garcia reached on an error. Cal State LA made it 5-1 in the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Alam that drove in
Adam Gordon.
Andross departed after the seventh inning and Alamillo, after allowing a single in the eighth that made it 5-4, got a key strikeout to end the eighth. He allowed a leadoff single to start the ninth, but induced a double play grounder and got another strikeout to end it.
Cal State LA will return to action on Friday with the start of a four-game series at home against Cal State Monterey Bay.
