TURLOCK -- Cal State LA's baseball team certainly made things interesting Sunday before having to settle for a series split at Stanislaus State.

The Golden Eagles sliced an eight-run deficit to just three runs in the ninth inning before falling to the Warriors, 10-7, in a California Collegiate Athletic Association contest at Warrior Field. Cal State LA (10-12, 5-8 CCAA) was done in by a six-run fifth inning that resulted in a 10-2 deficit. The Golden Eagles responded with one run in the sixth, two in the seventh and two in the ninth and had the bases loaded when the game ended.

Andrew Tovar went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and three RBI to lead a nine-hit Cal State LA attack. Matthew Piotrowski was 2-for-4 and Nick Atkins scored a pair of runs.

Tyler Van Dyk was 3-for-5 with three runs batted in for Stanislaus State (16-14, 9-11 CCAA). 

Eric Navarrete got the start for the Golden Eagles and went four innings, allowing eight hits and four runs. Jaycee Flores, Kai Penuelas and Deandre Carter each pitched one inning of scoreless relief to give the Golden Eagles a chance to get back into the game.

Cal State LA took a first-inning lead for the fourth time in the series when a groundout by Tovar scored Johnny Pacheco with the game's first run. Stanislaus State, though, tied it with a run in the first, and took a 3-1 lead with a pair of runs in the second inning.

Tovar's run-scoring single drove in Atkins to make it 3-2 in the third, but the Warriors made it 4-2 in the fourth and scored six times in the fifth to take a 10-2 lead.

A run-scoring groundout in the sixth by Michael Rosales cut into the lead and Cal State LA got two more runs on run-scoring singles by Piotrowski and Tovar to make it 10-5. After leaving on a pair of runners in the eighth inning, the Golden Eagles mounted another rally in the ninth.

Piotrowski was hit by a pitch with one out, Tovar walked and Rosales singled to load the bases. Fabian Moran drew a bases-loaded walk to force in one run and Wilem Drozdowski's sacrifice fly made it 10-7. Ethan Gonzalez drew a two-out walk to load the bases again, but Stanislaus State closer Andrew Ramirez got an eight-pitch strikeout to end it.

Cal State LA will return to action next Friday with the opener of a four-game series against San Francisco State at Reeder Field.