Box Score
POMONA, Calif. - Behind strong pitching and patient hitting, the Cal Poly Pomona baseball team secured an 8-4 victory Thursday over San Diego Christian to improve to 8-1 in non-conference play.
Broncos' junior shortstop
Mike Santora led off the bottom of the first inning with a single to extend his hit streak to 20 games. From there, the CPP offense took advantage of seven walks to score eight runs with just seven hits.
The result pushes the Broncos' overall mark to 26-15 and drops the Hawks' record to 6-33. CPP has a bye week from California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) play and will return to action for a four-game road series at Cal State Monterey Bay starting Thursday, April 28.
The starting pitching matchup Thursday featured CPP's
Scott Sibley against SDC's Adair Robles. The Hawks got to Sibley for two runs in the second, as Christopher Pasqual knocked a single to bring in both scores.
The Broncos battled back for one run in their half of the second, with
Jordan Whitman working a leadoff walk and
Jenzen Torres following with a double. A groundout from
Stephen Gonzalez brought in Whitman for CPP's first score of the contest.
In the bottom of the third inning, the Broncos tacked on two more runs with key hits coming in the form of a Santora double and a
Travis Taijeron homerun. It marked the 11th homerun of the season for Taijeron, who leads the CCAA in that statistic. The senior centerfielder reached base in four of his five plate appearances Thursday.
The Hawks' pitching and defense fell apart in the sixth inning, when CPP tallied five runs on just two hits. The Broncos were helped by two free passes, Santora getting hit by a pitch and Whitman reaching on an error.
For CPP on the mound,
Casey Yokubaitis,
John Pollock and
Michael Parker combined for five solid relief innings. Broncos' starting right-hander
Scott Sibley earned the win to improve to 3-0.
