LOS ANGELES -- Cal State LA's baseball team had a great day at Reeder Field on Saturday after sweeping both ends of a California Collegiate Athletic Association doubleheader against Cal State San Marcos.

The Golden Eagles held on for a tight 6-5 win in the opener and then got a huge game from Matthew Piotrowski to take the nightcap, 12-2. Piotrowski hit three home runs and added a triple as part of a 4-for-4 performance and Nick Atkins added a home run as well to help Cal State LA complete the sweep.

Cal State LA (8-9, 3-5 CCAA) has won the first three games of the four-game set against Cal State San Marcos (6-12, 0-8 CCAA).

Piotrowski became the fourth player in Cal State LA history to hit three home runs in a game and the first since Adam Gordon in 2019. His 15 total bases is second all-time, behind only Jay Caligiuri's 17. Caligiuri hit a program-record four home runs in a game and had 17 total bases in 2001.

He also had two RBI in the opener and wound up going 5-for-8 in the doubleheader with three runs scored and seven RBI. Piotrowski has a total of 12 RBI in the first three games of the series. 

Cal State LA got outstanding pitching in both games. Julian Tellez tossed six shutout innings and left the game with a 5-0 lead after allowing three baserunners in the seventh. Mikell Chavez worked two scoreless innings and got out of the seventh inning with the Golden Eagles still holding a 4-3 lead and Anthony Diaz stranded a pair of runners after allowing a run in the ninth to pick up the save.

In the seven-inning nightcap, Trevor Baugh allowed only four hits and a pair of unearned runs in six innings. Jaycee Flores tossed a hitless seventh inning to complete the win.

Cal State LA picked up 22 hits in the doubleheader.

In the opener, Johnny Pacheco and Wilem Drozdowski had two hits each with Pacheco scoring twice and Drozdowski scoring what turned out to be the winning run in the bottom of the eighth. Atkins and Piotrowski drove in two runs each.

In the nightcap, Piotrowski recorded his second four-hit game of the season, while Johnny Gonzalez went 3-for-4 with one run scored and two RBI.

The Golden Eagles took a 1-0 lead in the first inning of the opener on a double by Pacheco and a run-scoring single by Piotrowski. Pat McDonald Jr. kept the Cougars close until a four-run uprising by the Golden Eagles in the fifth. Ethan Gonzalez and Kadyn Victorian-Young led off with singles and both scored on a two-run double by Atkins. Piotrowski added an RBI groundout and Andrew Tovar singled in a run to give the Golden Eagles a 5-4 lead.

Tellez ran into some trouble in the seventh and left after a walk and two singles loaded the bases. Luke Reece singled in one run and Ethan Rivera singled in two to make it 5-3 and Jake Adams singled in another run to make it 5-4. Chavez got an inning-ending doubleplay with the bases loaded and one out to preserve the lead.

The Golden Eagles added what turned out to be the deciding run in the eighth when Drozdowski scored from third base after Victorian-Young got into a rundown between first and second and ultimately rounded second before being tagged out long after Drozdowski had raced home with the run.

That run proved big when the Cougars scored once in the ninth and had two runners on before Diaz got a game-ending groundout.

The Golden Eagles flexed some muscles in the nightcap to back the outstanding pitching of Baugh. Piotrowski hit a two-run home run in the first and added his second home run, a solo shot, that immediately followed a two-run home run from Atkins as part of a seven-run rally in the second. 

Johnny Gonzalez singled in Ethan Gonzalez to make it 10-2 in the fourth and Piotrowski hit a two-run home run in the fifth to make it 12-2.

The Golden Eagles and Cougars will conclude the series on Sunday with a single game at noon.