Box Score | POMONA, Calif. – The Cal Poly Pomona baseball team put together a strong effort from start to finish Friday in the conference opener and walked away with a 6-2 home win over Cal State Monterey Bay.

In a matchup between two nationally-ranked teams, Friday's California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) opener featured the stellar pitching of left-handed starter Max Bethell. Totaling 6.2 innings and allowing just two runs, Bethell earned his league-leading third win.

Four Broncos finished with multi-hit games, including David Armendariz reaching base in four of his five plate appearances and knocking his second homerun of the season.

CPP stays undefeated at 7-0 overall while moving to 1-0 in conference play. The Otters drop to 3-5 overall and 0-1 through league action. The two squads resume their four-game series Saturday with a doubleheader starting at 11 a.m.

The CCAA defending champion Otters broke through for the game's first run in the top of the first inning. After Brian Hamm started the contest with a double, Monterey Bay tallied a pair of groundouts that brought around the runner to score. Hamm finished with a 3-for-4 effort at the plate to highlight the Otters' offense.

The 1-0 lead didn't last long for Monterey though as Armendariz drew a one-out walk in the bottom of the first, stole second and later scored on an RBI single by Joseph Eusebio.

CPP kept the momentum going in the second when Brennen Salgado and Steven Andrade initiated a rally with back-to-back singles. With one out, Trevor Magno grounded out but that brought Salgado across the plate to give the Broncos a 2-1 advantage. Eusebio and Magno posted matching 3-for-4 performances at the plate Friday.

With one out in the fifth inning, Armendariz helped CPP open up more of a gap over the Otters. He hammered a pitch from Monterey Bay starter Chris Daniels over the leftfield fence, marking his second homer in the last two games. After Bo Walter contributed a sacrifice fly to put the Broncos up 5-1, the Otters sent Brian Scott in for relief of Daniels.

The two teams traded runs in the late innings to make it a 6-2 score but the CPP bullpen kept the visiting CSUMB squad from breaking through for a big rally. Austin Boyle and J.J. Franklin combined for 2.1 scoreless innings as they took over for Bethell.