LOS ANGELES -- Cal State LA's baseball team came up short in its bid to split a brief two-game series against Montana State Billings.

The Golden Eagles were edged by the Yellowjackets, 12-11, Wednesday night at Reeder Field. Cal State LA (2-3) collected nine hits in the contest, but were done in by some uncharacteristic errors and wild pitching. The Golden Eagles allowed nine walks and three hit batters and hurt themselves with four costly errors.

The game was a wild one with the two teams combining for 21 runs in the first three innings and then just two over the final six. Cal State LA led 5-2 after one inning and 7-4 after two innings, but Montana State Billings took full advantage of a third-inning error to score seven times in the third to take the lead. Cal State LA got three back in the bottom of the inning to make it 11-10 and the score stayed that way until the Golden Eagles tied it in the eighth on a bases-loaded sacrifice fly by Fabian Moran. One final error, though, led to an unearned run in the top of the ninth and the Golden Eagles were unable to rally in the bottom of the ninth.

Matthew Piotrowski continued his hot start to the season and went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBI. Andrew Tovar went 2-for-3 with three RBI, Wilem Drozdowski went 2-for-4 with one run scored and two RBI and Johnny Pacheco had one hit and scored three times in the leadoff spot.

Hayden Foltz went 3-for-5 with four runs scored for the Yellowjackets (2-0), while Mitch Winter went 2-for-4 with three RBI.

The pitching star of the game was Cal State LA's Mikell Chavez, who settled the game down with 4 1/3 innings of shutout relief. He gave up three hits, didn't walk a batter and struck out six. Deandrey Carter worked a scoreless eighth inning and Anthony Diaz took the tough loss with the unearned run in the ninth inning. The error came with the bases loaded and nobody out and Diaz did a fantastic job to get out of the inning without any further damage. Montana State Billings reliever Trevor Cassell worked a 1-2-3 ninth inning, though, to pick up the win for his team.

After the Yellowjackets scored two runs in the top of the first to take the lead, Cal State LA responded with five runs on five hits in the bottom of the inning. Drew Emmons drove in a run with a groundout, Tover doubled in a run to tie the game, Michael Rosales singled in a run to give Cal State LA the lead and Drozdowski singled in a pair of runs to make it 5-2.

The Yellowjackets pulled to within 5-4 in the top of the second, but Joel Martinez entered the game with the bases loaded and two outs and got a key strikeout to preserve the lead. Cal State LA then pushed the lead back to 7-4 on a two-run single by Tovar.

Cal State LA's costly error in the third, though, left the door open for the Yellowjackets and they took full advantage, scoring seven times with six of the runs being unearned to take an 11-7 lead. Cal State LA got three runs back in the bottom of the inning on a balk and a two-run single by Piotrowski to make it 11-10.

That's how the score stayed until the bottom of the eighth when the Golden Eagles tied it. Cal State LA loaded the bases when Pacheco walked, Art Ruiz was hit by a pitch for the third time in the game and a walk to Drew Emmons. Fabian Moran drilled a shot to center that was hauled at the warning track as Pacheco scored the tying run. 

Cal State LA will return to action next Friday, Feb. 17, with the start of a four-game series against Colorado School of Mines.