Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 CARSON –  The visiting SF State Gators split their conference doubleheader with the Cal State Dominguez Hills Toros this afternoon at Toro Baseball Field to take a 2-1 lead in this weekend's four-game series.  The Gators won the opener 3-2 behind a strong outing from Jack Veronin with Fernando Escobar driving in two of the guests' three runs.  In the night cap, the Gators fell 3-1 despite a strong outing from junior transfer Preston Tarter.
 
SF State senior pitcher Jack Veronin (3-3) picked up the win for the Gators as he pitched 8 innings of five hit ball, giving up two runs, while striking out three and walking three.  Cory Davis came on in the ninth and pitched a scoreless ninth, giving up just one hit and striking out one.  Davis now has recorded 12 saves on the season, which is second on the Gators' single season list and places him two from tying Paul Rodriguez's 14 saves (1989). 
 
The Toros struck first in the bottom of the first inning.  David Steininger drew a lead-off walk.  He scored the games' first run on a two-out triple by Bubby Rossman. 
 
The game remained 1-0 Toros until the Gator third inning.  Dillon Meyer had a one-out single up the middle.  Matt Vera's infield single advanced him to third.  Meyer scored on a sacrifice fly by Grady Espinosa to tie the game at 1-1.
 
The Gators took the lead in the fourth inning.  Nick Jackson had a one-out pinch hit single to center field.  He went to second on a ground out by Danny Souza.  Jackson scored on a two-out single by Fernando Escobar to give the Gators a 2-1 lead.
 
Veronin had the Toros shutdown until the bottom of the eighth inning.  Steininger walked with one out went to second on a fly out by Danny Haley.  With two outs, Peter Ives the first pitch he saw for a game-tying single to center field which brought in Steininger.
 
SF State (21-24, 16-19 CCAA) retook the lead in the next half inning.  Garret Heisinger drew a lead-off walk.  He went to second on a sacrifice bunt by Jackson. Heisinger went to third on a ground out by Bryce Cherry.  Then with the count 2-2 and two outs, Escobar drove in Heisinger with what proved to be the game-winning with an infield single to give the Gators a 3-2 lead.
 
Davis came on in relief in the bottom of the ninth.  He got the first Toro to ground out to Joe Chedid at second.  Then the next batter struck out swinging.  With the count 0-1 and two outs, Jordan Yallen hit a single to right field.  Davis induced the final Toro to ground out to Heisinger at first to preserve the Gator 3-2 win.
 
Brennan Bernardino recorded the no-decision the start for the Toros.  He went 8 innings, giving up 7 hits and two runs while striking out 7 and walking two.  Rossman (1-2) picked up the loss in relief for the hosts. 
 
Cal State Dominguez Hills had six hits on the day paced by Rossman with two.  He also drove in one of the Toros' two runs on the day.
 
SF State had 8 hits with Escobar leading the way going 2-for-4 with two runs batted in.
 
In the night cap, Preston Tarter (3-6) suffered the loss despite pitching six innings of six-hit ball, giving up three runs (one earned) while striking out four and walking one.
 
Joseph Perez picked up the win for the Toros (19-24, 14-21 CCAA) improving to 2-4.  Perez pitched 7 complete innings, giving up 9 hits and one run and striking out three. 
 
The Toros took a 1-0 lead in their half of the third inning.  Steininger had a lead-off walk.  He went to second on a bunt single by Haley.  Then with one out, he went to second on a failed picked off attempt.  Rossman drove in Steininger with the game's first run with a sacrifice to Jackson in left field.
 
SF State had a chance to tie the game in the top of the third inning.  Escobar and Meyer had back to back singles to lead off the inning.  Perez then induced the next three batters to fly out to center, fly out to right and pop up to third to end the scoring threat.
 
Cal State Dominguez Hills added two important insurance runs in the fourth inning, both with two outs; Adrian Guzman reached on an error by the Gators to begin the inning.  With two outs, he advanced to third base when Daniel Matienzo reached on an error after striking out.  Steininger drove home Guzman with a single to left field.  Then Matienzo scored on a single to left by Haley to give the Toros a 3-1 lead.
 
The Gators had another chance to score in the fourth as Garrett Heisinger doubled and went to third on a single by Matt Vera.  Perez once again induced the next three batters to ground out to preserve the 3-0 Toro lead.
 
SF State finally got on the board in the sixth inning.  Heisinger had a lead-off single.  He went to second on a ground out with one out by Grady Espinosa.  Pinch-hitter Mark Lindsay drove in Heisinger with a two-out single down the left field line.  Perez got the next Gator to fly out to center field as the Toros took a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the sixth inning.
 
In the Gator seventh, Jackson had a one-out single but was left stranded at first as the final two Gators flew out and grounded out as the Toros took the 3-1 night cap win.
 
Steininger and Haley each had two hits to lead the Toro hitting attack as the hosts had six hits in the game.
 
Heisinger had two of the Gators' nine hits to lead the Gator hitters. 
 
The Gators will look for the series win as they will face the Toros tomorrow morning in the series finale beginning at 11am at Toro Baseball Field in Carson.  With winning two of the series' first three games, SF State has clinched at least a split in this weekend's series.  This is the fifth series this season that the Gators have at least split, the most since 2010.  The 21 wins are also the most since 2010 (22-32) and the 16 conference wins are the most since 2004 (21-19).

Box Score Game One

Box Score Game Two