LOS ANGELES -- Cal State LA's baseball team came up short in its bid to avoid a series sweep on Sunday in a California Collegiate Athletic Association game against Cal State Monterey Bay.

The Golden Eagles surrendered grand slams in back-to-back innings and fell to the Otters, 12-6, at Reeder Field. Cal State LA (20-18, 17-11) fell into fourth place in the conference race, while Cal State Monterey Bay (25-12, 18-10) remained tied with San Francisco State for second, one game back of first-place Cal State Dominguez Hills and one game ahead of Cal State LA.

The Golden Eagles, who dropped a pair of gut-wrenching one-run defeats on Saturday, fell behind early and never led on Sunday. Cal State LA erased a 3-0 deficit in the bottom of the first on a run-scoring single by Cesar Chavez and a two-run double by Javy Espinoza, but the Otters came back with grand slam home runs in the third inning from Max Farfax and in the fourth inning from Cole Murchison to break things open.

Cal State LA contributed to those big innings with walks and hit batters with the Otters plating nine runs in the two innings on just three hits. The Golden Eagles committed two errors, walked six and hit a batter. An infield single by KC Quilici was the only other hit in those innings besides the home runs from Farfax and Murchison. 

The Golden Eagles tried to battle back and cut the margin to 12-6 with three runs in the fourth. Cal State LA took advantage of a throwing error on a potential double-play ball that allowed Kadyn Victorian to score and was followed by a two-run single by Chavez. The Golden Eagles left the bases loaded and were unable to pull any closer.

Cal State LA had its chances, but stranded 13 baserunners, including eight over the final five innings.

Relievers Atticus Gonzalez of Cal State LA and Dylan Gardner and Jacob Parks of Cal State Monterey Bay restored some order after the wild start and combined for 10 scoreless innings of relief.

Gonzalez, in his longest stint of the season, allowed only two hits over five scoreless innings, Gardner allowed only three hits over four scoreless innings to get the win and Parks worked a scoreless ninth inning while striking out the side to end it.

Isaiah Marquez was 3-for-6 with a run scored for the Golden Eagles, while Espinoza was 3-for-3 with two RBI and reached base five times. Malik Clayton was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and Chavez was 2-for-4 with three RBI. That quartet accounted for 11 of Cal State LA's 12 hits.

Cal State LA will return to action on Thursday with the opener of a four-game series at Chico State.