Ninth-Inning Rally Puts Cougars Past Broncos for Program-Record 20th CCAA Win
POMONA, Calif. – After rain suspended the series finale on Sunday, the Cal State San Marcos baseball team (21-15, 20-11 CCAA) earned its program-record 20th CCAA victory and split the series at Cal Poly Pomona (21-16, 17-11 CCAA) with a 13-10 win as it resumed play on Tuesday night at Scolinos Field.
TOP PERFORMERS
Ethan Rivera – 4-for-4 | 3 R | 2 RBIs | 1 2B | 1 BB
Garrett Teunissen – 2-for-5 | 3 RBIs | 2 R | 2 2B | 1 SB | 1 BB
Victor Castaneda – 2-for-4 | 2 RBIs | 2 R | 1 HR | 1 BB
Cameron Mahaffy – 3-for-5 | 2 R | 1 RBI | 1 2B
Evan Scalley – 2-for-4 | 1 RBI
HOW IT HAPPENED
- CSUSM jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead in the top of the first with four two-out RBI singles by Rivera, Castaneda, Chesterton and Scalley.
- The Cougars went up 5-0 in the top of the second with an RBI single through the left side by Rivera.
- A two-run blast to right by Darius Price cut the Broncos' deficit to 5-2 in the bottom of the second.
- A leadoff homer by Castaneda put CSUSM ahead 6-2 in the top of the third.
- An RBI single through the left side by Beau Betten put CPP within three once again at 6-3 in the bottom of the fourth.
- The Broncos knotted the game at 6-all in the bottom of the fifth with an RBI double by Julian Angulo and a two-run single through the left side by Price.
- Rain halted action after the conclusion of the fifth inning and eventually suspended play altogether.
- The action resumed on Tuesday night and saw CSUSM take 7-6 lead in the top of the seventh with an RBI double to right by Mahaffy.
- With two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, the Broncos rallied with a two-run triple by Jack Sanders and a two-run homer by Marco Malerba in back-to-back at-bats to take a 10-7 lead.
- Down to their final three outs in the top of the ninth, the Cougars put together a rally of their own with six runs on an RBI single by pinch-hitter Mauricio Guardado, a two-run single by Sean McGrew and a three-run double by Teunissen to go up 13-10.
- There was no comeback victory in the tank for the Broncos this time around as they had just one single in the bottom of the ninth while lining out and grounding out twice to end the game.
QUICK HITS
- Cougar reliever Preston Kelly (5-1) earned the win in 1.1 innings of work while allowing two runs on three hits.
- Bronco reliever Chris Fields (1-1) took the loss after allowing six runs on hits and a walk while striking out one in 1.2 innings.
- Phoenix Sommay kept his reached-base streak alive with a walk in his last at-bat and it extended it to 31 games – the fifth longest in program history.
- This is the second consecutive season in which CSUSM and CPP ended their series with a split.
- The Cougars' 13 runs were their most ever in a single game against the Broncos.
- CSUSM is guaranteed to end CCAA play with a winning record for the very first time.
- The Cougars' 17 hits tied for their most in a game this season.
- CSUSM is second in the CCAA standings with two conference series remaining.
UP NEXT
CSUSM will return to CSUSM Baseball Field for its final home series of the season against San Francisco State beginning on Friday at 3 p.m.
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