POMONA, Calif. – The 18th-ranked Cal Poly Pomona baseball team cruised to an 8-1 victory Sunday at Scolinos Field, defeating Cal State East Bay to salvage a series split.

The Broncos improve to 27-11 overall and 19-9 in conference play, while the Pioneers fall to 10-25 overall and 7-21 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA).

Sophomore righthander Ryan Olson pitched a gem on Sunday for CPP, going 7.2 innings while allowing just six hits and zero walks. He gave up one run, which was unearned, and racked up a season-high 10 strikeouts.

The Broncos' offense was at its best in the middle innings, scoring twice in the third inning, three times in the fourth and another two runs in the fifth. CPP totaled 12 hits, including two hits apiece from Christian Kelley, Kyle Garlick and Nick Cooksey – the top three hitters in the lineup.

In the first inning the Green and Gold posted their first run as Michael Zidek singled up the middle to score Cooksey from second. The opposition did tie it up in the top half of the third inning with a passed ball, but the Broncos would quickly pull ahead, posting seven runs in the next three innings. 

In the third, Cooksey reached on a fielder's choice that scored Jacob Bernardy, and was soon followed by a sacrifice fly from Matt Munoz that scored Kelley. 

Long ball No. 13 was sent out by Garlick in the bottom of the fourth to put CPP up 6-1. It allowed Kelley and Bernardy to score as well and Garlick now takes a three-homerun lead atop the CCAA leaderboard. 

The fifth inning brought across the Broncos' final two insurance runs as Mike Philp reached on a error by the second baseman that scored Munoz and Nicholas Bruno singled up the middle and bought home Ryan Webberley. The run scored by the CPP shortstop proved to be the final run in the game and gave the Broncos their final 8-1 total. 

After Olson's stellar performance on the mound, the Bronco bullpen came in and closed it out as Austin Boyle and Zach Williams pitched the final 1.1 innings, adding a strikeout and allowing no batters to reach base. 

The Green and Gold will return to action on Thursday at 3 p.m. for game one of the series with the Cal State L.A. Golden Eagles. The first two games will take place at Scolinos Field and the doubleheader on Saturday will occur at Reeder Field on the campus of Cal State L.A.