POMONA, Calif. — The San Francisco State baseball team fought the No. 1 seed Cal State Monterey Bay to the wire but ultimately fell 6-5. In an elimination game against No. 2 seed Cal State San Marcos, the Gators erased a three-run deficit in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game and Kyle Olimpia hit the game-winning Sac fly in the tenth.
- The Gators sit at 30-23 heading into Friday evening and picked up a good win over the third ranked team in the region.
- Justin Johnson went 5-for-10 on the day, hitting his 15th home run of the season in game two. His three RBIs added to his season total of 69, two shy of tying the single season record.
- After not recording an extra base hit against Monterey Bay, the Gators had four against San Marcos. Daniel Santos and Anthony Alvarez each had doubles and Nicholas Allred hit a triple.
- The Gators hit four sac flys on the day including three in game two.
- SF State was out hit 8 to 12 by Monterey Bay in the first game but out hit San Marcos 17 to 11.
Monterey Bay loaded the bases with one out thanks to a walk, error and intentional walk. Gators got the second out at home but a walk brought one in. Hartojo hit a ball up left and brought one run home and the Gators were able to throw out the second runner heading towards home limit the damage to two runs. With runners on the corners in the fourth, Derek Laferierre fouled out to the first baseman but the first baseman was called out of play, allowing both runners to advance a base and score. The Otters would add runs in the bottom of the fourth and fifth off a sac fly and solo home run by Sheppard.
The Gators took their first lead of the day in the sixth. With a pair in scoring position,
Kyle Olimpia reached second on an errant throw from the third basemen, allowing on run to score. Allred perfectly placed a ball in right field, allowing both base runners to come home and take a 5-4 lead. The Otters put runners on the bases with no outs in the sixth. The Gators turned a double play, but the runner on third crossed home plate to tie the game.
With two outs and bases loaded in the ninth, the Gators were looking for a force out to continue extra inning. Hartojo put the ball in play,
Armando Murillo made a tough stop but could not throw the ball to second base, allowing the winning run to score.
- Ian Sullivan got the start, going 4.2 innings while giving up six hits, four runs, three earned and three walks.
- Ethan Remmers came in relief of Sullivan, giving up two hits, one run and two walks.
- Andrew Silva (2-4) was on the hook for the loss, giving up the run of the game.
- Ryan Io (3-0) who pitched the final inning in relief, faced the minimum to pick up the win.
San Marcos struck first with an RBI double in the second inning. A pair of walks in the third for the Gators set the stage for Johnson who hit a three-run home run to take the lead.
Another RBI double by the Cougars in the fourth cut the Gators lead to 3-2.
Nathan Shinn, who had been fantastic to start the game, tried to get out of the seventh unharmed. With bases loaded, Shinn nailed the batter at the plate, thus ending his night. The Cougars would tack on four more runs to take a 7-3 lead. Laferriere hit a sac fly in the bottom of the inning to get a run back. Luke Reece would answer for San Marcos in the eighth with a solo home run. Schrader pinch hit in the eighth and hit a RBI single. Schrader advanced to be in scoring position and
Jacob French hit a single down the left line to bring him home. San Marcos drew an RBI walk in the top of the ninth to take a 9-6 lead going into the bottom of the inning.
With a pair of runners on and one out, Schrader hit to right to move both runners up two bases.
Anthony Alvarez hit a sac fly to allow the runner from third to score.
Cole Thompson, who came in to pinch run for Schrader, stole second.
Armando Murillo came up to the plate and hit the ball up the middle, allowing Thompson to run home easily.
In the tenth, Johnson singled to the shortstop and Laferriere singled deep to center to allow Johnson to move up to third. The Gators pinch ran
Nicholas Cook at third with one out. Olimpia hit the ball to right, Cook took off the moment it was caught and avoided the tag by the catcher to score the winning run.
- Nathan Shinn gave it his all to give the Gators a chance at a win. The southpaw was dominate through the first six innings but ran into trouble trying to complete the seventh. He finished the day going 6.2 innings, giving up eight hits, seven runs, six earned runs, four walks and threw six strikeouts.
- Trent Lopez, River Diaz De Leon and Garrett Jensen helped hold down the mound in relief through the ninth.
- Mickey Radanovich (4-1) faced the minimum in the tenth, only using nine pitches to get the Gators to the bottom of the inning.
- Spencer Anderson (2-3) took the loss for the Cougars.
The fourth seeded Gators play the loser of Cal State Monterey Bay and Cal Poly Pomona on Friday, May 10 at 7 p.m. for a chance to play in the championship game. The game will be broadcast on the
CCAA Network with live stats also available at
sfstategators.com.
