POMONA, Calif. – Robert Palmer scored the go-ahead run in the bottom of the fourth inning as Cal Poly Pomona erased an early 4-0 deficit to defeat visiting San Francisco State, 8-4, in a CCAA baseball game on Sunday at Scolinos Field in Pomona, Calif.
With the two teams concluding their four-game series, the Gators slip to 9-14 overall and 3-9 in league play, while the Broncos raise their record to 15-10 and 9-7 in the CCAA.
SF State jumped out of the gates in the first inning when Nick Bowerman (Oakley, California, Mount Mercy College) belted a one-out grand slam to give the visitors a quick 4-0 advantage. The Gators loaded bases on singles on back-to-back singles by Nick Nyman (Susanville, Calif., Lassen College) and Ryan Williams (Woodland, Calif., Yuba College), followed by a walk to Kevin Dultz (Altadena, Calif., Glendale CC). Bowerman then cleared the bases with his third homer of the season after his at-bat was prolonged by a dropped foul ball.
SF State maintained its lead until the bottom of the third when CPP plated four runs to with two outs as Travis Taijeron, Marcus Makia and Richard McDowell each delivered RBI singles, while Michael Neff doubled home Makia to knot the score at 4-4.
The Broncos went ahead to stay, 5-4, in the bottom of the fourth when Palmer led off the fourth with a triple and promptly scored on Tyson Edwards' groundout to second.
CPP added three markers in their half of the eighth on Edwards' two-run homer, while Taijeron, who earlier was hit by a pitch and advanced to third on a Jenzen Torres single, crossed the plate before Torres was tagged out on a stolen base attempt.
The Gators loaded the bases in the top of the ninth, but were unable to dent the scoreboard as Bronco reliever Joshua Krist induced a flyout to end the game.
Casey Yokubaitis (2-1) pitched five innings in relief of CPP starter Erick Rubalcava to earn the victory, giving up four hits and no walks, while Krist picked up his fourth save. Conversely SF State starter Nic Banaugh (Novato, Calif., College of Marin) (1-3) absorbed the loss, yielding five runs on five hits and four walks in four innings, before giving way to AJ Comaskey (Fresno, Calif., West Hills CC).
In addition to Bowerman's slam, Williams went 2-for-4 for the Gators with a run scored, while Makia and Erik Reidel had two hits apiece for Broncos to go along with Edwards' three RBI.
SF State returns to the diamond on Wednesday, March 17, when it travels to Reno, Nev., for a non-conference game at Division I Nevada. First pitch is set for 2 p.m. The Gators will then jump back into CCAA action when they play host to Cal State East Bay on Friday, March 19, beginning at 3 p.m.
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