Box Score | POMONA, Calif. – The Cal Poly Pomona baseball team rallied for another epic comeback Sunday, defeating Cal State Monterey Bay 5-4 to complete a four-game sweep to start conference play.
At 10-0 overall and 4-0 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA), the Broncos are off to their best start in school history. This weekend's results marked the first CCAA four-game home sweep for CPP since April 2008.
It also avenges an Otters' sweep last year in Seaside as the conference's defending champions outscored the Broncos 33-14 in 2013. In the 2014 preseason poll, CSUMB held the No. 18 spot nationally while CPP was ranked at 38th. With the undefeated start to the season, the Broncos will likely take a big jump in the updated polls released this coming week.
During Sunday's 5-4 win at Scolinos Field, CPP trailed 4-2 entering the bottom of the eighth inning.
Matt Muñoz earned a leadoff walk to start the Broncos' turn at the plate and then three teammates followed with one-out singles to eventually tie up the game.
Chris Carlson,
Joseph Eusebio and
Bo Walter provided those basehits as CPP finally broke through against Otters' starter Josh Eagle.
After the second out of the inning was recorded, freshman
Steven Andrade tapped a slow roller to the pitcher but beat the throw to first for a single and the go-ahead RBI. It proved to be Andrade's third game-winning RBI out of the Broncos' 10 victories.
CPP continues to get stellar relief work from its bullpen.
RJ Shanks picked up the win Sunday, moving his season total to three. That matches teammate
Max Bethell for the CCAA lead.
J.J. Franklin earned his league-leading fourth save to close out the 5-4 win Sunday.
In addition to getting the leadoff walk that started the eighth-inning rally, Muñoz finished 3-for-3 at the plate Sunday. His middle-infield partner, second baseman
Trevor Magno, finished 5-for-13 in this weekend's series while scoring four runs.
CPP actually trailed 3-0 through the middle innings and the Broncos tallied all five of their scores in their final three turns at-bat. Andrade posted a 2-for-4 performance offensively for his third multi-hit game of the season.
The Broncos will complete their 10-game homestand this week with single games on Thursday and Friday against UC San Diego (5-4, 2-2 CCAA). First pitch is schedule for 2 p.m. on both days at Scolinos Field.