LOS ANGELES -- Cal State LA's baseball team staged another huge comeback on Friday to take the opener of a four-game California Collegiate Athletic Association series against Chico State.

The Golden Eagles erupted for nine runs in the fourth inning to wipe out a 7-1 deficit and went on to a 17-9 win over the Wildcats at Reeder Field. Cal State LA (13-10, 7-6 CCAA) added three runs in the seventh and four more in the eighth for some breathing room at the end.

It's the second-largest comeback of the season for the Golden Eagles, who rallied from an 8-0 deficit to edge Cal State Dominguez Hills, 10-9, on March 9 at Reeder Field.

Ethan Gonzalez went 5-for-5 and was just one hit shy of the program record for hits in a game. He scored three times and drove in four runs. Elijah Jackson went 3-for-6 with three doubles and was one double shy of the program record of four held by Daniel Duran.

Jackson also made the biggest defensive play of the night, fielding a ball at third base and, despite having his momentum carrying him toward first base, firing to home to cut down Jesse Gadd at the plate in the seventh inning. Chico State had no outs at the time and the play kept the score at 10-8. 

Cal State LA (13-10, 7-6 CCAA) promptly scored three times in the bottom of the seventh and four more times in the eighth to make it 17-8.

Isaiah Marquez went 2-for-5 with a three-run home run that broke a 7-7 tie in the fourth. The Golden Eagles scored nine times on eight hits to turn the game around.

Eric Navarrete allowed five hits and only one run over 3 2/3 innings of relief to pick up the win. Joel Martinez tossed two scoreless innings of relief and Kai Penuelas and Michael Gill combined to get the final three outs in the ninth.

Marco Ibarra was pitching well for Chico State (13-9, 8-9 CCAA), limiting the Golden Eagles to just one run through the first three innings, before things unraveled in the fourth.

The inning started innocently enough with Marquez getting aboard on a one-out single. Art Ruiz, who scored four runs in the game, was hit by a pitch and Malik Clayton reached on an infield single with the runners advancing an extra base on an error. Gonzalez followed with a two-run single up the middle and Kadyn Victorian followed with a single. Jackson then doubled in Gonzalez and Victorian to make it 7-6 and Javy Espinoza singled in Jackson to tie it.

Matthew Piotrowski then doubled to right to move Espinoza to third and Marquez homered just over the short fence next to the indoor batting cages to give the Golden Eagles the lead.

The Golden Eagles added three runs in the seventh to extend their lead. Gonzalez and Victorian had run-scoring singles and Jackson added a run-scoring double.

Cal State LA then added four more runs in the eighth. Clayton tripled in Ruiz and scored on a single by Gonzalez. After a double by Jackson, Espinoza singled in another run and Piotrowski added a sacrifice fly to complete the big offensive showing by the Golden Eagles.

Cal State LA will continue the series with Chico State on Saturday with a doubleheader scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.