Coyotes sweep two from San Francisco State

SAN FRANCISCO -- Cal State San Bernardino extended its win streak to five Saturday with a CCAA conference doubleheader sweep of host San Francisco State, helped by the pitching of seniors Ward Minich and Kevin Wilson and the hitting of Brent Planck, Johnnie Haas and Jason Klug.

    In defeating the Gators 5-4 in the opener and 7-4 in the seven-inning nightcap, the Coyotes improved to 21-19 on the season, 12-15 in the CCAA. The last-place Gators are now 7-32-1 overall and 1-22 in the conference. The two teams wind up the four-game series with a single game at noon on Sunday.

    CSUSB has now won eight of its last 10 games.

    Planck went four-for-eight in the twinbill with three runs batted in and two runs scored while Haas was three-for-seven with two RBI and two runs scored. Klug hit a two-run homer, his eighth of the season, in the first inning of game two. His three RBIs in the game give him a team-leading 53 on the season.

    Wilson went 8.1 innings in the opener, yielding three runs on seven hits while striking out six and walking none to improve his record to 3-4. He needed relief help in the ninth from Michael Leal  after giving up a two-run homer to Jeff McCall. Leal gave up another run but got Matt Kavanaugh to hit into a game-ending double play in the 5-4 Coyotes win, earning a save in the process.

    Trailing 1-0 after two innings, the Coyotes took a 2-1 lead in the third on two hits and an error, the big blow being a two-run single by Billy Haynes. 

    The score remained 2-1 until the eighth when the Coyotes erupted for three runs aided by three hits and another Gators error. Planck singled in one run. Haas doubled in another and Chris LeFay singled in the third run to give Wilson a 5-1 cushion heading to the ninth.

    In game two, the Coyotes banged out 11 hits and stranded 11 runners but still scored seven runs to back the six-hit pitching of Minich, a senior right-hander who improved his record to 3-0 with six innings of work. Chad Borowski came on in the seventh and gave up a run in the 7-4 victory.

    CSUSB jumped on Gators starter Matt Edgecombe (0-4) for three runs in the first, two coming on Klug's homer, and made it 5-0 in the second with a pair of runs on an RBI single by Planck and a bases-loaded walk to Klug, forcing in the other run.

    The Coyotes made it 6-0 in the third as Mike Minjares was hit by a pitch, stole second, and scored on Planck's single. CSUSB made it 7-1 in the top of the fifth as Minjares singled, stole second and scored on Haas' RBI single.

    The Coyotes return home to face Cal State L.A. in a four-game CCAA series starting Thursday at the Golden Eagles field. Game two will be played Friday afternoon, also at L.A. CSUSB will host the final two games on Saturday, April 19, at Riverside Community College, starting at noon.