LOS ANGELES -- Cal State LA's baseball team ran into a hot-hitting Stanislaus State lineup Thursday night in the opener of a four-game California Collegiate Athletic Association series at Reeder Field.
The Golden Eagles got a pair of late home runs, but the Warriors scored in eight of their nine at bats and took a 19-5 decision. Cal State LA (22-25, 16-21 CCAA) got home runs from
Matthew Piotrowski and
Brayan Nunez, but the Warriors (17-26-1, 13-22 CCAA) collected 22 hits, including home runs from Flavio Perez and Alex Solis.
The loss was a costly one for the Golden Eagles, who slipped out of a tie for sixth with three games remaining. The top six teams in the CCAA will advance to the conference tournament.
Piotrowski went 3-for-4 and was a triple away from the cycle, while Nunez had a pair of runs batted in with his second home run of the season.
Austin Balentine had an outstanding start for the Warriors, allowing only six hits and one earned run over eight strong innings. He was backed by the 22-hit offensive attack. Robert Valdivia had five hits and scored three runs from the leadoff spot, Kyle Rachels was 3-for-4 with four RBI batting second and Perez went 3-for-7 with five RBI to lead the way. Ryan Leonesio was 3-for-4 with three runs scored.
Seven pitchers threw for Cal State LA on Thursday with
Michael Gill and catcher
Atticus Gonzalez each pitching one scoreless inning.
Holden Hungerford got the start and allowed four earned run in two-plus innings.
Stanislaus State scored in its first seven at bats to break things open. The Warriors got an unearned run to take a 1-0 lead in the first and got a leadoff home run from Solis to start a two-run second inning.
Cal State LA got a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the second to make it 3-2 with
Ethan Gonzalez contributing a sacrifice fly.
The Golden Eagles, though, didn't score again until Piotrowski hit his sixth home run of the season in the eighth inning. Nunez hit a two-run shot as a pinch hitter in the ninth.
The two teams will continue the series with a doubleheader on Friday beginning at 1 p.m.