SAN BERNARDINO — The San Francisco State baseball team opened its four-game series at Cal State Bernardino by swatting 27 runs on 29 hits, both season highs, in a 27-2 victory on Friday afternoon.

The 27 runs were the most by the Gators (15-20/14-15 CCAA) in at least a decade, easily surpassing the 16 runs piled up in a 16-4 win over Cal State Monterey Bay on March 7, 2008. Meanwhile the Coyotes (10-25/10-19 CCAA) lost their sixth-straight game.

The Gators scored in every inning but the seventh and hung a crooked inning in seven of those innings. SF State plated a run in the first thanks to an error. A two-out double and two more errors grew the lead to 3-0 and used a six-hit, six-run blew the game open at 9-0. Chris Smutny's grand slam in the fourth inning made it 13-1. The Gators plated three more runs in the fifth, then in the sixth Connor Fiddle drove in a run and Antone Self followed with the Gators' second homer of the day to make it 20-2. In the eighth, Kyle Smith drew a bases-loaded walk and Harley Lopez took the first pitch he saw to left field for an RBI single. In the ninth, Jordyn Eglite drove home a pair with a bases-loaded double, Brady Dorn and Chris Hayman followed with RBI singles, and Johnny Juarez reached on an error to make it 27-2.

Lost in the box score was another strong start by Grant Vogenthaler (4-3), who struck out five and scattered eight hits and just two runs in eight innings of work. Daniel Jimenez worked a perfect eighth and Brett Elgin worked a scoreless ninth.

Self went a perfect 3-for-3 with four runs and four RBIs, plus a walk. Connor Fidone was 3-for-4 with four runs, two RBIs, and a walk. Smutny went 2-for-3 with a career-high seven RBIs and a run. Jordan Abernathy was 2-for-3 with two runs and an RBI. Shortstop Jackson Kritsch went 3-for-5 with two runs and two RBIs. Dorn went 4-for-8 with two runs and an RBI. Lopez went 3-for-6 with a run, an RBI, and a walk. Zac Neumann went 2-for-2 with a run and a walk.

Kritsch is now hitting a team-high .379, followed by Dorn at .374, which are third and fourth, respectively, among CCAA batters.

On Deck
SF State and Cal State San Bernardino continue the series on Saturday with an 11 a.m. doubleheader. Live stats will be provided by the Coyotes and be sure check for game updates on Twitter at @sfstatebaseball. Also, be sure to like SF State Baseball on Facebook.