Box Score
STOCKTON, Calif. - With the Broncos throwing their first pitch Friday around 11 a.m. and their last around 11 p.m., it proved to be a long but monumental day for the Cal Poly Pomona baseball program.
After eliminating Sonoma State earlier on Friday, 11-4, the Broncos went right back to work under the lights against Chico State. Behind a five-run rally in the first and a gutsy eight-inning performance from
Geoff Broussard, the CPP squad sent the Wildcats packing with a 13-2 rout.
The Broncos have pushed through the loser's bracket to make it to the final day of the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Tournament. CPP will challenge UC San Diego at 2 p.m., with the Broncos needing two wins over the Tritons to be crowned tournament champs.
CPP ended the night game with 10 doubles, setting a new record for a CCAA Tournament contest. Freshman third baseman
Humberto Tovalin paced the Broncos in that statistic, notching three on his own.
Friday's results bring benefits not only in the conference picture but also in the NCAA postseason layout. Entering this week, the Broncos stood as the fifth-ranked team in the region while SSU and CSUC stood at No. 3 and No. 4 respectively.
Considering how CPP outplayed the Seawolves and Wildcats at the CCAA Tournament on Friday, the Broncos seemingly have wrapped up a spot at the NCAA Division II Tournament. If CPP can manage to top the Tritons twice Saturday, the Broncos would earn the conference's automatic bid.
It will all shake out on Sunday night at 7 p.m. when the NCAA announces the participants and bracket seeding for the West Region tournament that will begin next Thursday.
During the Friday night showdown with CSUC, the Broncos scored at least one run through each of the first five innings and seven of the nine CPP starters registered multi-hit games.
The Broncos, designated as the home team, seemed to steal the momentum away in the first inning. Broussard allowed back-to-back walks to start the game but got two-straight strikeouts to squash the Wildcats' rally.
In the bottom of the first, CPP worked the bases loaded with one out and
Chris Miller drove the first run in on a sacrifice fly. Moments later,
Tyson Edwards drove a pitch off the leftfield foul pole for a three-run homerun.
Stephen Gonzalez followed with a solo shot to cap off the five-run rally.
The double demonstration started in the second, as starting second baseman
Allen Rodarte led off with a double to left field.
Ryan Goodman later doubled in the inning, as CPP tacked on two more scores and knocked Wildcats' starter Ryan O'Shea out of the game early.
The Broncos found their doubling rhythm in the third as well, with Tovalin and Whitman tallying two-base knocks that led to two more CPP scores. All of a sudden, the Broncos were up 9-0 and Broussard was cruising. The junior right-handed ended up with a career-high seven strikeouts on the evening.
Although the highlights might have slowed down a bit toward the end of the game, a memorable shot came in the seventh on a solo shot from Whitman. He launched a towering homer over the leftfield fence.
The CPP squad has kept the scoreboard operators at Klein Family Field busy this week, collecting 46 hits through the first three games of the CCAA Tournament. The Broncos ended up scoring at least one run in seven of their eight turns at the plate Friday night against the Wildcats.
