BOX SCORE Sonoma State 3, Cal State San Bernardino 2  --  Box Score  |  Video Highlights & Post-Game Interviews

LA JOLLA, Calif. -- Senior right-hander Thomas Lee was just one strike away from his second straight complete-game shutout victory, but Cal State San Bernardino plated two runs in the top of the ninth to take a 2-1 lead.  In the bottom of the ninth, Jeff Boulware knocked in Steven Filippi for the game-tying run, then with runners on second and third, Coyote reliever Josh Pond was called for a balk, allowing the Seawolves to extend their season with a wild 3-2 win on Saturday at the CCAA Baseball Championship Tournament in La Jolla. 

Sonoma State (26-24) will now play in another loser-out game at 7:00 p.m. against the loser of the upcoming UC San Diego/Chico State game.  Cal State San Bernardino sees its season come to a close with a 27-20 overall record.

Tonight's game will be streamed live on the internet with a live video broadcast, accessible by clicking here or going to sonomaseawolves.com/baseball_live.

It was the Thomas Lee show once again as he tossed eight and two-thirds innings of shutout ball.  However, that elusive 27th out became a tough task for the reigning national pitcher of the week, as the Coyotes' Brandon Day hit a two-out, RBI single to knot the game at 1-1 and end Lee's shutout bid.  Paul Eshleman then stepped to the plate and delivered an RBI triple that bounced off the very top of the fence to score Day, giving CSUSB the 2-1 lead.  Taylor Herbert took over for Lee and got the final out of the inning, but Sonoma State would go into its final at bat, trailing by a run.

Filippi delivered a leadoff single in the bottom of the ninth inning, then moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Evan Warner.  With Boulware at the plate, Filippi advanced to third on a wild pitch by reliever Kerry Kelley, who replaced Coyote starter Cory Caruso at the start of the inning.

With one out and the infield playing in to keep the tying run from scoring, Boulware hit a hard ground ball up the middle, but second baseman Curtis Cassise got a glove on it, planted his foot, turned and fired home to try and get Filippi out at home, but the throw would be late (and wild) and Sonoma State knotted the score at 2-2.  Boulware advanced to second on the play, thanks to the throwing error by Cassise trying to get Filippi at home; he would become the game-winning run with still just one out. 

Pond took over for Kelley and while he and his catcher, Eshleman, worked to intentional walk Jackson Stogner, one of Pond's throws went wild, allowing Boulware to move to third base, just 90 feet away.  Stogner continued to be intentionally walked and later moved to second on an indifference situation.  Still with one out, Marcus Kimura came to bat and it was during Kimura's plate appearance that Pond was called for a balk, allowing the game-winning run in Boulware to scamper home.

Before the ninth inning, it was clearly a pitcher's duel between Lee and Cal State San Bernardino's starter Caruso.  Caruso allowed six Seawolf hits, one of which was an RBI double by Kimura in the third that scored Justin Serrao.  It would hold up to be the only run scored by either team until there were two outs left in the top half of the ninth frame.

Lee, meanwhile, gave up just four Coyote hits through the first seven innings.  One of those hits came in the fifth inning, which accompanied two walks by Lee that loaded the bases.  However, Lee came back to strikeout Eshleman, stranding three runners on base and keeping Cal State San Bernardino scoreless.  It would prove to be the only threat by CSUSB until the final inning.

Herbert (3-5) earned the victory, despite facing just one batter in the top of the ninth.  He got Edwin Mendoza to groundout to Boulware at third base, ending the inning with a Coyote runner left on third base.  In total, Lee gave up nine hits, two runs and three walks while striking out five.

Lee's counterpart, Caruso, allowed six hits, one run and three walks, and fanned three SSU batters.  Kelley (4-2) was responsible for the game-winning run that Pond allowed to come in on his balk, therefore Kelley was tagged with the loss.

Sonoma State will play in another loser-out game on Friday at 7:00 p.m., and will face the loser of the game between top-seeded UC San Diego and second-seeded Chico State, currently in progress.  For live stats and/or video of the game between the Tritons and Wildcats, go to the CCAA Baseball Championship Tournament web page at goccaa.org.