SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco State baseball team topped visiting Cal State East Bay in both games of Saturday's doubleheader at Maloney Field, 9-7 and 7-6 in seven innings.
After the Pioneers (20-21/17-18 CCAA) took a 6-4 lead in game two with a four-run sixth inning, the Gators (19-22/18-17 CCAA) found themselves against the wall in a scheduled seven-inning game. San Francisco State went down in the order in the sixth but
Brett Elgin (1-0) came out of the bullpen and kept things close with a perfect 15-pitch seventh.
Johnny Juarez led off the bottom of the seventh with a single, then pinch hitter Jordan was hit by a pitch.
Jackson Kritsch, who entered the weekend leading the league in batting, laid down a sacrifice bunt to move both base runners up 90 feet.
Connor Fidone roped a single to right center to tie the game, then advanced all the way to third on a wild pitch.
Brady Dorn drew a full-count walk, then
Harley Lopez was intentionally walked. That brought up
Jack Harris, who hit a ball to the left side. Shortstop Colt Parshall threw to second to begin a potential double play but Harris beat out the throw to first, resulting in a fielder's choice that allowed Fidone to score the winning run.
The Gators overcame an early 1-0 deficit with a four-run fourth. Fidone began the inning with a leadoff triple, Dorn drew a full-count walk, then Lopez and Harris both singled home runs.
Trevor Rogers moved the runners up with a sacrifice bunt and Chris Smunty made it 4-1 with a two-run single to left.
In game one, Harris' two-out, three-run home run to right center gave the Gators a 6-4 lead in the third.
Harley Lopez and
Brady Dorn, who both reached on singles, scored.
A three-run rally in the eighth inning provided much-needed insurance. Harris reached on an error,
Antone Self, who entered in the seventh for defensive purposes and made a sensational stop, doubled, and
Jordan Abernathy was intentionally walked with one out.
Jason Hare laid down a sacrifice bunt and reached safely on a throwing error. Harris scored and Self was able to come around on the errant throw.
Jackson Kritsch capped off the rally with a line drive to right center.
The Gators jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first. The red-hot Lopez drove home Chis Smutny with an RBI single up the middle, then scored on
Brady Dorn's double down the left field line. Dorn scored when
Jack Harris reached safely on an error by shortstop by Parshall.
The Pioneers answered in the second with a two-run double from Matt Cantelme. With runners on second and third, Parshall grounded out, which allowed a run to score. Kyosuke Ushimaru gave the Pioneers a 4-3 lead with a two-out single. The Gators later limited the damage with a 2-4-5-2-1 pickoff of Ushimaru between third and home.
CSUEB pulled to within a run, 6-5, thanks to a two-out, unearned run in the fourth.
Dillon Houser (4-3) struck out five innings in six innings.
Jordyn Eglite pitched around a leadoff error in the seventh and
Jordan Yrastorza worked a perfect eighth. The Pioneers loaded the bases versus
Cameron Crone in the ninth. Parshall singled and Ushimaru worked a full-count walk to trim the lead to 9-7 but Crone retired his last two batters looking to finish the game.
On Deck
With the pair of wins, the Gators find themselves tied for sixth place with Sonoma State. San Francisco State and Cal State East Bay wrap up the series on Sunday, April 22 at noon. Live stats will be provided and be sure check for in-game updates on Twitter and Instagram at @sfstatebaseball. Also, be sure to like
SF State Baseball on Facebook.
