LOS ANGELES -- Cal State LA's baseball team was unable to shake its recent struggles in its four-game California Collegiate Athletic Association opener against Cal State East Bay.
The Golden Eagles fell behind early and never could get their offense going in a 7-3 loss to the Pioneers Thursday night at Reeder Field. Cal State LA (12-23, 7-18 CCAA) lost its sixth straight game and slipped further behind Cal State East Bay (18-17, 11-14 CCAA), which holds sixth place in the conference. The top six teams qualify for the CCAA Championship Tournament.
Johnny Pacheco went 3-for-5 and had one RBI, while
Will Picketts had two hits.
Thomas Chavez had a two-run single in the eighth inning for the Golden Eagles, but Cal State LA stranded 10 runners in the game and couldn't overcome the early deficit.
Yuji Sakane got the start for the Golden Eagles and allowed seven hits and four earned runs in five innings while walking four and striking out two. He allowed one run in the first and four more in the second before tossing three scoreless innings to complete his outing.
Christian Casados gave up three hits and two runs over the final four innings. He walked three and struck out six and finishing his outing with two scoreless innings.
Blake Campbell got the win for the Pioneers after coming on relief and getting out of a bases loaded and no out jam in the fourth. He proceeded to limit the Golden Eagles to four hits and two runs over 4 2/3 innings. Manny Garcia went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBI for Cal State East Bay, while Matthew O'Mahony went 2-for-5 with two RBI. Samuel Esparza went 2-for-3 with a pair of runs scored.
O'Mahony delivered a one-out RBI single in the first inning for the Pioneers, but Sakane got out of a bases-loaded jam to prevent further damage.
The Pioneers then put four runs on the board in the second, bunching together two walks, three singles and an outfield error to take a 5-0 lead.
Cal State LA got one run back in the third on a run-scoring double by Pacheco to drive in Chavez, but the Golden Eagles left two runners in scoring position and had to settle for the one run.
Garcia hit a sacrifice fly for the Pioneers in the sixth to make it 6-1 and Donovan Bailey had a run-scoring single in the seventh to make igt 7-1.
The Golden Eagles scored twice in the eighth to pull closer.
Drew Emmons singled and
Gerardo Castaneda walked to start the inning and both runners advanced on a groundout by
Noe Garcia. Chavez lined a single to left to score both runs.Â
The series will continue with a doubleheader on Friday beginning at 1 p.m.
