SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco State baseball team split Sunday's doubleheader versus third-place Cal State LA at Maloney Field. SF State took game one, 14-7, and dropped game two, 3-2, in extra innings.
The Gators (13-20/12-15 CCAA) guaranteed at least a series split with a win in game one. The Gators roughed up Golden Eagles (19-13/16-11 CCAA) starter James Mendez for seven runs on 10 hits. He was chased after SF State posted a four-run fifth.
Jack Harris' single to shallow left field scored
Brady Dorn from second, then
Johnny Juarez doubled to left field, which scored
Trevor Rogers, who reached on a base on balls.
Jordan Abernathy's two-run double made it 7-2 and ended Mendez's day.
Dorn's two-run homer in the sixth gave the Gators some insurance, 9-6. Dorn also got the Gators on the board first with a two-out double in the first. He moved up ninety feet on a passed ball and later scored when
Jack Harris legged out an infield single.
Jackson Kritsch made it 10-6 in the seventh with an RBI single. Abernathy led the third inning off with a triple to the center field wall and scored on a sac fly to center by
Zac Neumann to make it 3-0.
The Golden Eagles pulled to within a run with a two-out, two-run homer to left by Andre Gregory in the third. Jorge Garcia's three-run shot down the left field line in the sixth pulled CSULA to within 7-5 versus SF State starter
Grant Vogenthaler. With the tying run at the plate, the Gators turned to
Jordyn Eglite, who allowed a run but stranded runners at the corners.
Jordan Yrastorza and
Joshua Romero each pitched a scoreless eighth and
Daniel Jimenez allowed a run in the ninth.
Game two was scheduled for seven innings but needed nine anyway. Gators starter
Jeff Piver started the game with two quick outs but surrendered back-to-back home runs to Sean Watkins and Jorge Garcia.
Chris Smutny drilled a solo shot to left field in the second inning and tied the game with a sac fly in the fifth. The game was otherwise a pitcher's duel. Piver went six and two thirds innings and struck out seven. He handed the ball over to
Cameron Crone, who got out of the seventh by getting Watkins to hit into a pop fly with the bases loaded. Golden Eagles starter Joey Deceglie limited the Gators to four hits and struck out eight in eight innings of work.
Reliever
Jack Higgins began the ninth inning by hitting Eli Orona with a pitch. That proved costly as Oronoa became the winning run on Andrew Gregory's RBI single to center two batters later.
On Deck
The four-game series concludes on Monday, April 9 at 11 a.m. Live stats will be provided and be sure check for game updates on Twitter and Instagram at @sfstatebaseball. Also, be sure to like
SF State Baseball on Facebook.
