Broncos fall to Cal State L.A.

Cal State L.A.'s baseball team made sure its final California Collegiate Athletic Association home game of the season was a successful one.

 

The Golden Eagles stormed back from an early 4-0 deficit and beat Cal Poly Pomona, 10-5, Friday in a CCAA contest at Reeder Field. Cal State L.A. (29-14, 20-10 CCAA) stretched its winning streak to five games with its second victory in two days over the Broncos (24-19, 14-16 CCAA). The Golden Eagles were 13-3 in their 16 conference games at Reeder Field in 2009.

 

Cal State L.A. will conclude CCAA play with two games at Cal Poly Pomona and four games at Sonoma State next week.

 

Nathan Pickett overcame a rocky second inning and went seven strong innings to pick up the win. He allowed all four of his runs in the second inning and also hit five batters in the first three innings before settling down. Pickett (3-2) hit three batters and walked another in the second inning alone, but he was able to leave the bases loaded and then blanked the Broncos on just four hits over the next five innings.

 

The Golden Eagles were held scoreless by Cal Poly Pomona freshman Geoff Broussard through the first five innings, although Broussard had to work hard and left eight Cal State L.A. runners on base during his five-inning stint. The Golden Eagles then struck for three runs in the sixth inning to make it 4-3 and erupted for seven runs in the seventh inning to take the lead for good.

 

Brian Dearth worked the final two innings for Cal State L.A. and allowed just one run on three hits.

 

Cal State L.A. had 15 hits in the game, while Cal Poly Pomona had 10. The two pitching staffs also combined for eight walks and seven hit batters.

 

Matt Miraldi and Brendan McQuaid had three hits each for the Golden Eagles, while Richard McDowell, Jeff Ringholm and Marcus Makia had two hits each for the Broncos.

 

The Broncos struck first in the second inning when they threatened to break open the game. Cal Poly Pomona did all its damage with two outs. Ringholm singled and Frank Klopp was hit by a pitch. Makia then hit a sharp grounder up the middle that eluded shortstop Jesus Campos and resulted in a two-run double. Villa and Erik Riedel were both hit by pitches to load the bases and Chris Brehm drew a walk to force in another run. Nick Tanos then picked up an infield single to drive in the fourth run.

 

The Golden Eagles trailed 4-0 into the sixth inning, but got a big break when Danne Quiroz reached on an infield error to lead off the frame. He took second on a wild pitch and Campos drew a walk. Chris Lloyd doubled in one run and Miraldi followed with a two-run single to make it 4-3.

 

Quiroz led off the seventh inning with a single and Campos reached when his sacrifice bunt was thrown errantly to first by pitcher Keith Powers, allowing pinch runner Michael Vinyard to score all the way from first to tie the game. Matzner followed with a double to score Campos and give the Golden Eagles their first lead at 5-4. Matzner went to third on an error and scored on a sacrifice fly by Lloyd to make it 6-4. Miraldi then tripled and scored on a double by McQuaid to make it 7-4. After Mario Ramirez was intentionally walked, Max Moya walked to load the bases. Travis Tartamella singled in one run and a second run scored when the ball was misplayed in left field, resulting in Cal Poly Pomona's third error of the inning. Vinyard drove in another run with a groundout to make it 10-4.

 

Cal Poly Pomona scored its final run in the eighth on a run-scoring single by Makia.

 

Cal State L.A. will conclude the four-game series with a doubleheader at Cal Poly Pomona on Saturday.