SEASIDE, Calif. — The San Francisco State baseball team fell 8-5 in the first round of the CCAA tournament to fourth seed Cal Poly Pomona, eliminating them from the tournament. A poor defensive first inning put the Gators in a hole early that they never seemed to overcome.
- The Gators fall to 27-22 on the season while the Broncos improve to 27-19.
- Michael Cunningham's ninth homer of the year is the most by an individual since 2005.
- Sammy Gonzales hit his fifth triple of the year and sits only behind teammate Nick Upstill in most in the conference.
- Daniel Santos went 3-for-4 at the plate with a team high two RBIs.
- The Gators hit into four double plays, the most all season.
Gonzales got the Gators on the board first with a lead-off triple and reached home off a throwing error from the second basemen.
A rough first inning put the Gators behind early on. With runners in scoring position,
Antonio Nanez dropped a routine fly to load the bases. A single to left field plated two runners and a two-out triple cleared the bases to give the Broncos a 4-1 lead.
Cunningham cut that lead in half with a solo homer run.
A sac bunt from the Broncos in the bottom of the fourth brought the lead back to three. With runners on the corners in the top of the fifth,
Daniel Santos singled to left field to make it a two run deficit again at 5-3. The Broncos hit an RBI single in the sixth to reclaim their three-run lead. Santos went yard in the seventh inning, launching the ball to left field and hitting the scoreboard.
Gary Grosjean, who came on to pitch in the seventh inning, looked to get out of the inning unscratched but an errant throw to first allowed runners at second and third to score.
Down 8-4 in the top of the ninth,
Gavin Haimovitz hit a lead off double and
Derek Laferierre singled to advance Haimovitz to third. Gonzales hit a sac fly to score Haimovitz but the Gators hit into a double play in the next at bat to end the game.
- Nathan Shinn (6-4) tossed 10 strikeouts while giving up nine hits, six runs with four earned and only one walk in six innings of work. His 78 strikeouts this season ranks fifth in a single season. Only a sophomore, Shinn has 127 career strikeouts and is only two off of cracking the top ten.
- Grosjean went 0.2 innings giving up two runs with only one earned.
- Andrew Silva pitched 1.1 scoreless innings with a hit and a strikeout.
- The CCAA Pitcher of the Year Caleb Reyes (7-2) gave up 10 hits, four runs with three earned and two walks while tossing six strikeouts in the win.
The Gators will wait to see if they will make in to the NCAA West Regionals with the selection show taking place Sunday, May 14. SF State dropped to eighth in the most recent Regional Poll.
