Hayward, Calif. - The Seawolves began a home-and-home weekend series with the Cal State East Bay Pioneers with a doubleheader at Pioneer Field on Friday. Unfortunately for the visitors, the trip to the East Bay turned out to be an empty one, as the Pioneers pulled away in the opener and a late home run propelled them to a come-from-behind victory to complete the sweep.
GAME ONE - Cal State Hayward 8, Sonoma State 4A tied game going into the fifth inning, the Pioneers scored three unearned runs to break the game open on their way to a victory against
Ryan Luna and the Seawolves.
The 3-3 ballgame became Cal State Hayward's to lose thanks to a throwing error by Luna on a bunt by Rudy Navarro, as the errant throw allowed two runs to come home to give the Pioneers the lead. Soon after, Dakota Conners had one of his two hits on the day to drive home Navarro.
The game was filled with errors on both sides, as seven of the 12 runs scored in all were unearned. Cal State East Bay were the biggest contributors to the defensive issues, as they committed five errors to Sonoma State's two.
Sonoma State managed only four hits in the game, as
Bryant Cid hit a double and
Grant St. Martin hit his third home run of the season. Conners and Navarro each had two hits for the Pioneers, with Conners bringing home three runs and Navarro scoring twice. Michael Thomas went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and two driven in.
Luna went five innings and gave up six runs in all, taking his second loss of the season. Nick Sergi picked up his first win of the season for East Bay with 3 1/3 scoreless innings.
GAME TWO - Cal State Hayward 9, Sonoma State 7The Seawolves had taken the lead in the fifth inning thanks to a barrage of run scoring singles and held a 7-6 lead in the eighth inning, but Chris Porter finished off a huge day at the plate with a three-run homer to propel the Pioneers to a comeback victory in the afternoon game.
Porter went 2-for-4 on the day, and both hits ended up being three-run homers, with his first coming in the fourth inning as part of East Bay's four run rally against
Haydon Turpin.
Sonoma State took the early lead on a 2-run homer by
Matthew Richards and re-took the lead in the fifth with four runs of their own thanks to run-scoring singles by
Bryant Cid,
Ryan O'Malley and
Grant St. Martin.
The two teams traded runs in the seventh before Porter's blast off
Jackson Zarubin gave the Pioneers the lead.
Cal Becker allowed hitters aboard in the eighth, taking his third loss of the season. Joshua Kubitsky picked up the win for the Pioneers with Derek Oetken pitching a scoreless ninth for his fourth save.
Cid and St. Martin each had two hits to lead the Seawolf offense, with Richards driving home three runs.
Daniel Caresio scored two runs, as well.
UP NEXT: The Seawolves and Pioneers finish up their four-game weekend tilt with a doubleheader at Seawolf Diamond on Saturday morning beginning at 11 p.m. Game two is scheduled to go seven innings.
