LOS ANGELES -- Cal State LA's baseball team played two games on Friday that couldn't have been more different except for one important facet.
They both resulted in California Collegiate Athletic Association victories over Cal State East Bay in a fascinating doubleheader at Reeder Field. Cal State LA (14-23, 9-18 CCAA) won the opener, 16-13, in a wild contest that saw the teams combined for 29 runs, 29 hits and seven errors. The Golden Eagles held a 16-3 lead after seven innings, yet needed some clutch relief from
Mikell Chavez to finally subdue the Pioneers (18-18, 11-15 CCAA).
The nightcap, on the other hand, was a 3-1 masterpiece with
Owen Hunt playing a starring role and the Golden Eagle defense coming up with some timely plays.
Add it all together and the Golden Eagles put an emphatic end to a six-game losing streak.
Cal State LA got a strong start in the opener from
Dylan Needham, who allowed only two hits and three runs over five adventurous innings. Needham walked five and hit three and pitched out of several jams to pick up his first win of the season. He surrendered a two-run home run to Francisco Pedraza in the first and hit a batter with the bases loaded in the third that tied the game at 3-3, but finished with two scoreless innings to complete his outing, including another bases-loaded jam in the fifth.
The Golden Eagles tied the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the first on a triple by
Johnny Pacheco, a run-scoring double by
Wilem Drozdowski and a one-out run-scoring double by
Will Picketts. They took a 3-2 lead in the second on a run-scoring single by
A.J. Salgado and, after the Pioneers tied it in the third, the Golden Eagles scored four runs in the fourth, six runs in the fifth and three runs in the sixth to take a 16-3 lead.
Anthony Angel, Jr. hit a two-run home run to give the Golden Eagles the lead for good in the fourth. Picketts and
Gerardo Castaneda added run-scoring singles later in the inning to give Cal State LA a 7-3 lead.
The Golden Eagles scored six runs in the fifth. Pacheco had a run-scoring single, Angel scored on a wild pitch, Salgado lined a two-run single up the middle and Castaneda had a two-run single to make it 13-3.
Picketts doubled in a pair of runs in the sixth and
Drew Emmons singled in one to make it 16-3.
Julian Garcia tossed two scoreless innings before things unraveled for the Golden Eagles in the eighth. Cal State LA made three errors and Cal State East Bay collected six hits while scoring seven times.
Deandrey Carter got the final out of the inning to leave the bases loaded.
Carter ran into trouble in the ninth inning and Chavez came on to get the final two outs for his first save of the season.
Picketts was 3-for-5 with three runs scored and four RBI, Salgado was 3-for-6 with two runs and three RBI, Anget was 3-for-5 with three runs scored and two RBI, Pacheco was 3-for-4 with three runs scored, Castaneda had two hits and three RBI and Drozdowski scored three runs.
The nightcap, in a picture of extremes, was a beautifully pitched contest between Hunt and Cal State East Bay's Mark Woinarowicz, with Hunt earning the decision to improve to 5-0.
Hunt gave up a first-inning and that was it, limiting the Pioneers to six hits and one run while walking three and striking out six. Woinarowicz gave up a pair of runs in the first and only an unearned run the rest of the way with no walks and four strikeouts.
The Pioneers took a 1-0 lead in the first when Essex Brown Jr. scored on a two-out wild pitch, but the Golden Eagles responded quickly in the bottom of the inning. Pacheco led off the inning with a double and moved to third on a single by Drozdowski, who then smartly took second on a wild pitch to get into scoring position. Salgado's groundout to second scored Pacheco and moved Drozdowski to third and Picketts delivered a sacrifice fly to score Drozdowski and give the Golden Eagles the lead.
Cal State LA added another run in the fourth. Castaneda singled to lead off the inning. Then, with two out,
Nick Atkins lined a single to right field that was bobbled and allowed Castaneda to score all the way from first. Atkins wound up on third.
Hunt's toughest inning was the fifth, but Cal State LA's defense stood tall and punished the Pioneers for some questionable base running that led to two of the three outs in the inning. Picketts made a nice backhanded stop on a grounder and caught a runner trying to make it from second and third and another runner was cut down at third base to end the inning when Drozdowski fired a bullet to cut-off man Atkins after fielding a single in right field and Atkins tossed to Salgado at third base for the tag.
Hunt stranded two Cal State East Bay runners in the sixth and one in the seventh in an impressive seven-inning complete-game gem.
