SAN MARCOS -- Cal State LA's baseball team came up just short in the opener of a four-game California Collegiate Athletic Association series against Cal State San Marcos.
The Golden Eagles tied the game up in the top of the eighth, but gave up the go-ahead run on a squeeze play in the bottom of the inning in a 9-8 loss to the Cougars. Cal State LA (15-19, 14-16 CCAA) scored its eight runs on only five hits, two of which were home runs by
Adam Gordon and
Nate Alam. Cal State San Marcos (17-22, 13-20) also got a pair of home runs, three-run shots by Cabot Van Til and Andrew Garcia.
Gordon was 2-for-5 with three RBI for the Golden Eagles, while Alam was 1-for-2 with two runs scored and two RBI.
Tyler Odekirk was 1-for-3 with two runs scored and one RBI.
Nick Moisant started for the Golden Eagles and gave up 10 hits and six earned runs in four-plus innings. He left after Garcia's three-run home run with no one out in the fifth.
Austin Nazabal gave up a run over the next two innings,
Miguel Garcia gave up one run in his one inning and
Johnny Virgen got the final three outs of the eighth inning.
The Golden Eagles struck for two runs in each of the first two innings. Odekirk drew a leadoff walk and Gordon followed with his fifth home run of the season.
After the Cougars scored a run in the bottom of the first,
Jordan Peabody was hit by a pitch and Alam connected for a two-run home run, his fourth of the season, to give the Golden Eagles a 4-1 lead.
Cal State San Marcos tied the game in the bottom of the second on a three-run home run by Van Til.
Cal State LA regained the lead when Odekirk reached on an error and scored on a single by Gordon in the top of the fifth, but Garcia hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the inning to take a 7-5 lead.
The Golden Eagles battled back from an 8-5 deficit to tie the game. Alam and
Michael Tillman drew walks ahead of a run-scoring single by Odekirk in the top of the seventh and Tillman scored on a failed pickoff to make it 8-7.
Cal State LA then tied it in the top of the eighth on a sacrifice fly by
Nic Sandoval, only to see the Cougars get the eventual game-winning run courtesy of a squeeze bunt by Andrew Cowell.
Cal State LA will continue the series at Cal State San Marcos with a single game on Saturday at 3 p.m. before the series concludes with a doubleheader on Sunday at Reeder Field beginning at 1 p.m.
