MONTEREY PARK -- Cal State LA's baseball team had to dig deep - and go deep - to earn a split on Saturday in a California Collegiate Athletic Association doubleheader against San Francisco State.

Brandon Gutierrez was outstanding while holding down a potent San Francisco State lineup and Carson Panarisi belted a go-ahead two-run home run to give the Golden Eagles a 4-2 win in the seven-inning second game. San Francisco State won the opener, 8-4, at East Los Angeles College.

Gutierrez gave up 10 hits in seven hard innings, but only allowed two runs and he blanked the Gators over the final five innings of the game. He walked two and struck out five and stranded seven baserunners while improving to 3-1 on the season.

Panarisi came off the bench as a right-handed pinch hitter after San Francisco State brought a lefty in with a runner on base and one out in the sixth inning. Panarisi drilled the first pitch he saw well over the left-field fence to give Cal State LA (9-12, 6-5 CCAA) the lead. Gutierrez came back out for the seventh, determined to get a complete game. He gave up a one-out single, but got a strikeout and a fly to center to complete the outing.

San Francisco State (13-11, 8-7 CCAA) got a good start from Alek Trukki, who limited the Golden Eagles to just four hits and one run over the first four innings. 

The Gators took a 2-0 lead with single runs in the second and third innings, but Gutierrez did a fantastic job limiting the damage to just one run in the third and keeping his team in the game. Stephen Espinoza hit a solo home run in the second and Daniel Murillo followed a leadoff walk to Nicholas Allred with a triple to put the Gators ahead, 2-0. Gutierrez, though, got two slow groundouts and a strike out to get out of the jam.

Cal State LA then tied it with single runs in the fourth and fifth innings. Drew Emmons picked up a big two-out double in the fourth to drive in Alberto Prado and Ethan Gonzalez drove in Malik Clayton with a groundout to tie it. Clayton singled and Ben Lee put down a beautiful sacrifice bunt to move him over. He took third on a single by Isaiah Marquez and scored on the groundout by Gonzalez.

Prado drew a leadoff walk to start things in the sixth and Kai Butler came in as a pinch runner. One out later, Panarisi's homer won it for the Golden Eagles.

San Francisco State took the opener, 8-4, behind a strong seven-inning start from Nathan Shinn and a 12-hit offensive attack. Shinn allowed seven hits and three runs, including home runs by Prado and Marquez. Prado was 3-for-4 in the game for the Golden Eagles.

Michael Cunningham hit a home run for the Gators, who got hits from all nine of their starters.

Moises Escobedo tossed two scoreless innings of relief for the Golden Eagles.

Cal State LA trailed 8-2 after seven innings, but made things interesting in the eighth. Marquez drew a leadoff walk to end Shinn's outing and Prado and Gonzalez singled to load the bases. Panarisi drove in two runs with a single to make it 8-4 and Kadyn Victorian hit a line drive that was snared by Murillo at short to end the threat.

Cal State LA and San Francisco State will conclude the four-game series on Sunday at noon.