LOS ANGELES -- Cal State LA's baseball team didn't get a walk-off win against Cal State Dominguez Hills on Friday night, it was much more like a run-off victory.

A.J. Salgado came racing around third base and beat the relay throw to home plate on a run-scoring single by Drew Emmons to lift the Golden Eagles to a 6-5 win at Reeder Field in an exciting opener to a four-game California Collegiate Athletic Association series against the Toros. The game-winning hit was the third run batted in of the game for Emmons, who earlier hit a two-run home run to highlight a four-run first inning for the Golden Eagles.

Cal State LA (10-9, 5-4 CCAA) led 4-0 after one inning and 5-1 after five, only to see Cal State Dominguez Hills (14-9, 9-4 CCAA) rally to tie the game with one run in the sixth and three more in the seventh. The score stayed at 5-5 until the bottom of the ninth when Salgado drew a one-out walk and moved to second when Will Picketts was hit by a pitch on a 3-2 count. Emmons then lined a single to left field, just over the outstretched glove of Cal State Dominguez Hills shortstop Scott Ogrin. Salgado didn't get a great jump toward third as he had to wait to make sure the ball cleared Ogrin, but he was soon flying around third base and his headfirst slide into home plate was in time to end the game.

Hayden Luff pitched 3 2/3 innings of strong relief for the Golden Eagles to get the win and showed some outstanding resiliency. After allowing the three runs in the seventh that tied the game, Luff allowed only one hit while blanking the Toros over the final two innings. He allowed six hits and three runs, walked two and struck out seven.

Yuji Sakane got the start for the Golden Eagles and he was outstanding, limiting the potent Cal State Dominguez Hills lineup to just two hits and two runs over 5 1/3 innings. He walked four and struck out six.

Cal State Dominguez Hills also got a resilient pitching performance from its starter, Dylan Steen. He allowed six hits and four runs in the first inning, but settled down after that and allowed only an unearned run over his final five innings. He walked one and struck out six over six innings and enabled his team an opportunity to climb back into the game.

Luff, in addition to his great stint on the mound, also had three hits at the plate. Johnny Pacheco, Emmons and Salgado had two hits each.

Pierson Loska and Alberto Luevano had two hits each for the Toros. 

Cal State LA got off to a tremendous start in the first inning. Pacheco and Wilem Drozdowski both singled to start the game and moved up a base on a wild pitch. Salgado reached on an infield single to score Pacheco and Picketts lifted a sacrifice fly to score Drozdowski. After Salgado stole second, Emmons hammered a two-run home run over the right-field fence to make it 4-0.

The Toros took advantage of four walks in the third inning to make it 4-1 when Loska's bases-loaded walk forced in the run.

Cal State LA got an unearned run in the fifth to make it 5-1. Luff singled to center to drive in Picketts.

The Toros got a run in the sixth when Loska doubled and scored on a single by Alberto Luevano and then tied it with three runs, all with two outs, in the seventh. Ogrin and Loska delivered back-to-back doubles to make it 5-3 and Emilio Barrera's two-run single tied it. Luff got out of the inning with a strikeout and then picked up four more strikeouts over the next two innings.

That set up Cal State LA's winning rally in the ninth.

The series will continue with a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 1 p.m. 

 

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