SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — Behind five home runs, The San Francisco State baseball team took game four with #28 Cal State San Bernardino 18-6 to split the series.
- SF State improves to 9-7 on the season and 5-3 in the CCAA. The Yotes fall to 12-6 and 4-4 in the CCAA.
- Five home runs is a season-high for the Gators. Daniel Murillo hit two to tie with teammate Michael Cunningham for the CCAA lead of seven. Nicholas Cook hit his first career home run. Anthony Alvarez and Kyle Olipia each added homers.
- The Gators also had season highs in hits (17) and RBIs (18) and matched their season high in runs.
- Murillo and Olimpia each went 3-for-5 with Olimpia going back-to-back days one triple short of the cycle. Murillo's five RBIs tied a season-high.
- Stephen Espinoza and Murillo tied the team lead with three runs.
- The Gators defense was bend don't break as they allowed 14 hits but only six runs scored.
Alvarez launched his second home run of the series in the top of the second to give the Gators a 1-0 lead. The lead didn't last long as the Yotes returned the favor and tied the game with a solo lead-off homer from Jeremy Giesegh. The Gators drew a pair of free bases with no outs in the third and
Nicholas Allred ambushed the Yotes with a first pitch single to right to score a run.
Justin Johnson cleared the bases with a double to the left center wall to give the Gators a 4-1 lead. Johnson tagged up and advanced on a fly out. He scored with a hit by Alvarez down the left field line. In the top of the fifth with a runner on, Murillo hit his third home run of the series and extended the Gator lead to 7-1. With two-outs in the top of the fifth,
Stephen Espinoza drew a four-pitch walk and
Kyle Olimpia doubled to bring Espinoza home.
The Yotes cut into the Gators lead with a RBI single in the fifth to make it 8-2. But the Gators responded with a 2RBI single from
Daniel Santos in the top of the sixth. San Bernardino scored another run with a two-out RBI single to center. Olimpia hit a no doubter with a runner on to make it a 12-3 lead.
The Gators put the game out of hand in the eighth.
Nicholas Cook came in to pinch hit with a runner. Hit swung on a full count and homered to add two more runs. Murillo launched a ball with two runners on to extend the lead to 17-3. Sugden added another run with a ground-out in the top of the ninth. The Yotes added three runs in the bottom of the inning but it was too little too late.
- David Eichhorn (2-0) gave the Gators a quality start and went six innings. He gave up three runs and 10 hits while striking out three.
- Nick Bacura gave the Gators a 1-2-3 inning in the seventh, striking out two.
- Tyler Ohlson faced the minimum in the eighth.
- Edrian Rangel pitched the final inning for the Gators.
- The Yotes used six pitchers with Kyle Larsen taking the loss.
The Gators head home to host Cal State Dominguez Hills On March 7 at 2 pm. Live stats will be available at sfstategators.com and fans can follow along on FloCollege.