LOS ANGELES -- Cal State LA's baseball team used one big inning to turn the tide against Cal Poly Pomona on Thursday night in the opener of a four-game California Collegiate Athletic Association series.
The Golden Eagles struck for five runs in a game-turning seventh inning and then held on for a 6-5 win at Reeder Field. Cal State LA (7-7, 4-5 CCAA) trailed 3-1 entering the seventh, but scored five times on five hits to take the lead.
Nic Bereaud's towering home run to center started the inning and a two-run double by
Anthony Ayala broke a 3-3 tie.
The Broncos (8-7, 5-4 CCAA) scored twice in the eighth inning to make things interesting, but the Golden Eagles got a scoreless ninth inning from
Andre Gregory to secure the victory.
Nate Adams pitched six strong innings for the Golden Eagles in his first start of the season. He gave up five hits and three runs, walked three and struck out seven.
Robbie Stowell pitched a scoreless inning to pick up the win for Cal State LA,
George Alamillo worked the eighth and Gregory worked around a pair of walks in a scoreless ninth for his second save. A key play was turned in by catcher
Noe Garcia, who nicely blocked a pitch in the dirt and threw out pinch runner Nick Peifer trying to steal second for the second out of the inning.
Gregory had three hits to lead a 10-hit Cal State LA attack. Bereaud was 2-for-4 with a double, a home run and two runs scored and
Anthony Moreno was 3-for-4 with one run scored.
Austin Isenhart was outstanding for Cal Poly Pomona, limiting the Golden Eagles to just one run through six innings before running to trouble in the seventh. Brennan McKenzie was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and Cesar Lopez had a pair of hits.
Cal Poly Pomona took a 2-0 lead in the fourth on a run-scoring single by Lopez and a run-scoring groundout by Bryce Graddy, but Cal State LA cut the deficit in half with a run in the fifth. Bereaud led off with a double and eventually scored on a two-out error.
The Broncos regained the two-run lead when McKenzie hit a solo home run with two outs in the sixth.
That's how it stayed until Bereaud's home run leading off the seventh made it 3-2. Moreno and
Nate Alam followed with singles and both runners advanced on a bunt by Garcia.
Eli Orona walked to load the bases and, after a pitching change,
Jordan Peabody reached on a fielder's choice to score Moreno and tie the game. Ayala then followed with a go-ahead two-run double to left-center and Gregory followed with a single to left to score Ayala and make it 6-3.
The Broncos got two runs in the eighth to make it 6-5, but Alamillo slammed the door with a key two-out strikeout and Garcia again made a big defensive play when he ran down what would have been a wild pitch and made a strong throw to first to nail Cody Martin for the final out.
Gregory then worked around a pair of ninth-inning walks to shut it down.
The series will continue with a home game for the Golden Eagles on Friday at 6 p.m.
