POMONA, Calif. — The No. 20-ranked San Francisco State baseball team swept Saturday's doubleheader at Cal Poly Pomona in another pair of close games, 9-8 and 7-5 in nine innings.
The Gators improve to 12-0-1 overall and 10-0 in CCAA play while the Broncos fall to 11-14 overall and 9-10 in conference play.
- Six of the Gators wins have been decided by one run.
- In game one, Harley Lopez homered for his third consecutive game. He now has a team-leading six home runs and a five-game hitting streak.
- Collin Gabel had three more hits to give him a seven-game hitting streak. However, he left the game in the third inning of game two with an ankle injury after scoring at home. At .582, he leads the team in batting average.
- Jonah Gonzales went 3-for-6 with a run and the go-ahead RBI in game two.
- Jackson Kritsch went 4-for-9 with a walk, two runs, and an RBI. He now has a five-game hitting streak.
- Shaq Robinson went 2-for-6 with two runs and three RBIs. He was hit twice and had two sac flies.
- Riley Cleary went 1-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to seven games. He also made the start in game two.
GAME ONE
- The Broncos took an early lead in the second. Nick Peifer walked, stoled second, and scored on Christian Moya's single back up the middle.
- The Gators left the bases loaded in the third but exploded for four runs on five consecutive hits in the fourth to go ahead 4-1. Shaq Robinson was hit by a pitch and later scored on Jackson Kritsch's single. Lopez followed with a single that scored Trevor Greenley and Jason Hare also scored thanks to an error. Dorn worked a full count and eventually doubled down the right field line that brought Kritsch home.
- CPP got a pair of runs back in the bottom of the fourth to trim the lead to 4-3. Lopez led off with a single and scored on a Peifer double down the left field line. He later scored on Logan Gopperton's pinch hit single.
- SF State grew the lead back to three with two more runs in the fifth. Robinson was hit by another pitch and later scored on a Greenley single. Hare hit into a double play but Gabel, who doubled, scored to make it 6-3.
- The Broncos answered with another run in the fifth on a Peifer sac fly.
- The Gators scored two more in the sixth. Lopez greeted reliever Connor Todd by taking a 2-2 pitch over the right field wall. Robinson drove in what turned out to be an important insurance run with a sac fly.
- CPP scored a two-out run in the sixth and trimmed the lead to one with a pair of unearned runs in the seventh.
- Jack Higgins (3-0) struck out six in five innings of work for the decision. He allowed four runs on six hits.
- Daniel Jimenez allowed three runs, one earned, in an inning and a third of work. He struck out two.
- Dylan Madole worked two and two thirds innings to pick up his third save of the season. He struck out four, including two in the ninth. He fielded a comebacker and tossed to first to end it.
- The Broncos used five pitchers in game one. Starter Dylan Francis (2-4) lasted just three and a third and allowed four runs on seven hits.
GAME TWO
- The Broncos took a 1-0 lead in the first on Nic Hernandez's two-out single.
- Jonah Gonzales worked a full-count single to lead off the second. Robinson and Jack Harris followed with single, and Gonzales scored the tying run on Harris' base hit to left.
- Harley Lopez drew a full-count walk in the third and later scored the go-ahead run on a Gabel double down the left field line. The Broncos argued that the ball was foul but the call stood. Gabel advanced to third on Gonzales' single and scored on a fielding error but was injured in the play at the plate, as he came up clutching his ankle.
- The Broncos answered in the bottom of the third with an unearned run to make it 3-2.
- Trevor Rogers reached on an error to begin the fifth, moved up 90 feet on a wild pitch, and scored on a Robinson single back up the middle to make it 4-2.
- Back-to-back doubles in the bottom of the fifth cut the Gators lead to 4-3 and CPP tied it on a sacrifice with runners at the corners. The Broncos went ahead 5-4 on Peifer's sac fly. Nate Jenkins entered but issued a walk to load the bases but caught Matt Manskar looking to end the rally.
- Kyler Crone drew a pinch-hit walk to lead off the sixth. Kritsch movedd Crone up with a perfectly-executed sac bunt, then Lopez singled Crone home to tie it 5-5.
- The Gators broke through in the ninth. Kritsch and Lopez both walked and Brady Dorn legged out a sacrifice bunt for a hit instead. With one out, Jonah Gonzales shot a ball through the right side to put the Gators back in front. Robinson added a sacrifice fly to make it 7-5.
- Riley Cleary struck out two and allowed a run on four hits in three innings of work.
- Ryan Nabas allowed a run in an inning of work.
- Caden Childress allowed two runs, one earned, in two thirds of an inning.
- Jenkins (1-0) picked up the win with three and a third innings of scoreless work. He had a strikeout to get out of the fifth, got help from his defense with a 543 double play to end the sixth, then worked a scoreless seventh. He walked the bases loaded with one out in the eighth but got a 643 double play to keep things scoreless.
- Thakns to a 46 double play, Joshua Romero faced the minimum in the ninth for his second save of the season.
- The Broncos used six pitchers in game two. Ben Mora walked the go-ahead run and Connor Todd (0-1) took the loss after he gave up the hit to Gonzales.
The series wraps up on Sunday, March 17 at 11 a.m. Be sure to follow San Francisco State baseball on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at @sfstatebaseball.
