SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco State baseball team split Friday's doubleheader with visiting Cal State Monterey Bay. The Gators dropped game one 9-6 but stormed back with a 6-2 victory in the nightcap.

Righty Matthew Hernandez (2-2) hadn't gone longer than four innings all season but the junior went eight innings strong on Friday. His attempt for the complete-game shutout was broken up in the ninth by Max Sanderson. Hernandez departed after 105 pitches and allowed just four hits. Brent Montgomery worked the rest of the ninth.

Jack Harris' second home run of the day, and fourth of the season, was a deep shot to dead center that gave the Gators a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning of game two. Zac Neumann's single back up the middle later that inning drove home two more and doubled the lead to 4-0. After Robbie Carling was picked off of third for the second out in the sixth inning, the Gators came up big. Bryce Brooks drew a walk, Chris Nicholson loaded the bases on a hit by a pitch, and Cole Lang capped off the two-out rally with an RBI single to right center that brought home Brooks and Neumann.

SF State took a 6-5 lead on Harris' homer in the bottom of the eighth inning but the lead was short lived. The Otters tied the game in the top of the ninth on an RBI single, then regained the lead on a bases-loaded wild pitch. An insurance run came on a groundout and another wild pitch brought in the Otters' ninth run.

The Gators got on the board in the fifth inning on Jacob Lopez's single back up the middle. In the seventh, the Gators erased a 5-1 deficit with a four-run frame. Robbie Carling, who came in as a defensive replacement, wore one on the back to bring in a run. A wild pitch brought around another run and Nicholson drove in a run with a groundout. Jordan Abernathy's double to the left field gap tied the game at 5-5.

Up Next
The Gators face the Otters in another doubleheader on Saturday, April 15 at noon. Live stats will be available and updates will be posted on Twitter at @sfstatebaseball.