CARSON, Calif. — The San Francisco State baseball team put up eight runs in the third that proved to be the difference maker in a 15-7 win over Cal State Dominguez Hills. With the win over Dominguez Hills and Cal State LA's loss to Stanislaus State, the Gators officially clinched their spot in the CCAA Tournament.
- SF State improves to 26-21 and sits in fourth place in the CCAA standings at 20-17. Cal State Dominguez Hills falls to 19-27 and 15-21 in the CCAA. The win was Head Coach Tony Schifano's 175th as Head Coach.
- The entire starting line-up registered a hit as the Gators finished with 16 on the day. Justin Johnson went 3-for-5 and was a home run shy of the cycle. He also had an RBI to bring him to 56 RBIs on the season to lead the conference.
- Anthony Alvarez and Armando Murillo hit their fourth and fifth homers of the season.
- In addition to Johnson, Jacob French, Kyle Olimpia and Daniel Santos all hit doubles. French and Johnson each have 15 on the season and rank near the top in that category.
- French and Derek Laferriere each had a stolen base on the day.
- The Gators finished with 10 runners left on base while Dominguez Hills had 13.
With runners on the corners and two outs to open the game, Laferriere placed a bunt between the pitcher and third base, allowing the runner on third to come home.
In the second, the lead-off runner got on board off an errant throw from third and scored on a sac fly. The Toros took the lead off and ground out to second that allowed another runner on third to score.
Santos hit a lead-off double in the third and Johnson brought him in with a triple to right center. Laferriere came up to bat and recorded his second RBI of the day with a single to right. Alvarez hit a full count pitch and launched it over left field for a two-run bomb.
After a pitching change,
Nathanial Silva knocked a ball in play to allow another run to come across and increase the lead to 6-2. With bases loaded, French drilled the ball down the right line and brought everyone home but recorded the first out of the inning when he was tagged at third.
The Gators continued to do damage in the fourth as Schrader, Silva and Murrillo recorded back-to-back-to-back RBIs to extend the lead to 12-2. The Toros responded with a three-spot of their own in the bottom of the inning. Johnson hit a lead-off double in the fifth, advanced to third off a sac bunt and scored on Alvarez's single to right. Alvarez would later score on a sac fly to make it a 14-5 game.
A two-run blast from Trey Winget cut the Toros lead down to seven. Murillo hit a solo shot in the sixth to bring the score back up by eight, 15-7.
The Toros tried to go for a rally with bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth and two outs and the conference leader in home runs up to bat in Nolan Karliner. Karliner swung on a 2-2 count and squashed any chance of a rally.
- Ryan Garza only made it through four innings with the pitch count loading up on him. He finished with nine hits, seven runs, five earned runs, three walks and three strikeouts in the no decision start.
- Ethan Remmers (1-0) gave the Gators some good bulk innings and earned his first win of the season. Remmers went three innings and gave up two hits, a walk and no strikeouts without giving up a run.
- Jacob French and River Diaz De Leon each pitched an inning in relief to keep the Toros off the board.
- Bryan Kroft took the loss after only going two innings.
The Gators play a doubleheader starting at noon on Friday, May 3. The game will be broadcast on the
CCAA Network with live stats also available at
sfstategators.com.
