HAYWARD -- Cal State LA's baseball team bounced back powerfully from a tough loss in the opener of a California Collegiate Athletic Association doubleheader to earn a split on Friday.

The Golden Eagles dropped the opener, 5-4, on a two-out single in the bottom of the ninth, but hit four home runs in the nightcap for an 8-2 win and a split against Cal State East Bay on Pioneer Field. Cal State LA (20-16, 10-9 CCAA) has won five of its last seven games, including two of three so far against Cal State East Bay (17-16, 8-7 CCAA).

Jonathan Manuel had another strong start in the nightcap, allowing only seven hits and one earned run over 6 1/3 innings to improve to 5-2 on the season. He walked one and struck out four.

Chirs Lozano got the final two outs for the Golden Eagles to finish things up.

Kai Penuelas led the hitting barrage with a pair of home runs, while Ben Lee hit a three-run home run and drove in four runs and Omar Gonzalez hit his conference-leading 14th home run of the season.

Cesar Chavez drove in the first run of the game with a groundout in the third inning and Lee followed with a run-scoring single to make it 2-0.

Penuelas hit a solo home run in the fifth and Gonzalez added one in the sixth to give the Golden Eagles a 4-0 lead.

Penuelas then added another solo home run and Lee followed later in the inning with a three-run shot to make it 8-0. Manuel blanked the Pioneers through six innings, but a solo home run by Logan Stelling to lead off the seventh broke up the shutout bid. 

Kadyn VIctorian had two hits and scored two runs for the Golden Eagles.

In the opener, Cal State LA was unable to take full advantage of a good start by Alejandro Huezo, who pitched 7 1/3 innings and allowed four runs on nine hits with no walks and three strikeouts.

The Golden Eagles got a dramatic two-out solo home run in the top of the ninth by Lee to tie it, but the Pioneers pushed across a two-out run in the bottom of the inning to win it.

Lee, Manuel and Ethan Gonzalez had two hits each for the Golden Eagles, who collected nine hits.

Cal State LA took a 2-0 lead in the first on a run-scoring double by Alberto Prado and a run-scoring single by Ethan Gonzalez, but Cal State East Bay got solo home runs from Caleb Chance in the third and Marc DiCarlo Jr. in the fourth to tie it.

The Golden Eagles regained the lead in the fifth on a run-scoring single by Omar Gonzalez, but the Pioneers got a single run in the bottom of the fifth to tie and sacrifice fly by Ramos in the eighth to take a 4-3 lead.

With the Golden Eagles down to their last out in the ninth, Lee delivered a clutch solo home run to tie it before the Pioneers got a two-out run-scoring single to win it.

Cal State LA will conclude the series at Cal State East Bay with a single game on Saturday beginning at noon.