LOS ANGELES — The RV San Francisco State baseball team held a 6-1 lead after three innings in game one of the CCAA Tournament but saw Cal State San Marcos come back to tie the game in the seventh. Daniel Murillo and Michael Cunningham each had RBIs to give the Gators a 8-6 lead in the eighth and the Gators would hold on to win 8-7 and advance.
- SF State improves to 31-19 on the season. With the Gators sitting in seventh in the latest NCAA Regional rankings, they will look to go deeper into the tournament to boost their resume. Cal State San Marcos ends their season 25-23.
- Prior to the game, the Gators' All-Conference honorees: Daniel Murillo (First Team), Kyle Olimpia (First Team), Michael Cunningham (Outfield), Nathan Shinn (First Team), David Ecihhorn (First Team), Nicholas Allred (Second Team) Justin Johnson (Second Team), Stephen Espinoza (Honorable Mention), Derek Laferriere (Honorable Mention) and Head Coach Tony Schifano (CCAA Coach of the Year).
- Nicholas Allred went 3-for-5 with two doubles and a single. He also had a run and an RBI.
- Daniel Murillo and Justin Johnson each homered, extending their season total to 12 and eight. Johnson's two RBIs tied Phil Kernan's record of 118 career RBIs with at least two more games to play. Only teammate Daniel Santos has a chance to surpass him, who sits at 116 RBIs.
- Murillo now has 87 hits, third most in a single season.
- The Gators struck out nine times and only drew one walk.
Daniel Murillo hit a first pitch solo home run in his first at-bat.
Jackson Wood kept the inning going reaching on a two-out error and Johnson hammered the ball over the left field fence to go up 3-0. Phoenix Sommay hit a two-out double and came home off a single from Garrett Teunissen to score in the third.
Murillo hit a lead-off single in the bottom of the third. Cunningham singled and a bobble in the outfield brought Murillo home. Allred tripled to plate Cunningham and
Derek Laferriere hit an RBI single to bring Allred home and give the Gators a 6-1 lead.
The Cougars put up a crooked number in the sixth, scoring four runs off four hits to come within one run of the Gators' lead.
Nick Bacura struck out Trey Becker on the would be third out of the seventh, but the swing and the miss pitch went to the backstop, allowing the inning to continue and Becker to eventually score to tie the game.
AJ Schrader hit a one-out double and advanced to third on a dribbler by
Daniel Santos.
Colby Rafail came in to pinch run and Murillo hit a sac fly to retake the lead. Cunningham barreled the ball up the middle to give the Gators a 8-6 lead. The Cougars' Victor Casteneda hit an rbi single with one out and runners at the corner.
Nick Bacura tossed a three-pitch strikeout before giving up a walk to juice the bases. He induced a line-out to end the game and give the Gators the win.
- Nathan Shinn started on the mound for the Gators. Shinn was electric through the first five innings but started to slow down in the sixth as his pitch count started to go up. His final line through 5.1 innings: eight hits, five runs, two walks and four strikeouts.
- Nick Bacura (4-0) pitched the rest of the way for the Gators. Through 3.2 innings, he gave up six hits, two runs three walks and struck out a career-high six.
- Nolan Long (3-1) took the loss for San Marcos
The Gators will play Cal State Dominguez Hills at 3 pm on May 8. Should they lose, they play an elimination game following that game. Live stats will be available at
sfstategators.com and fans can follow along on FloCollege.
