SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – A far cry from the series opener where no runs were scored until inning No. 10, the Cal Poly Pomona Broncos topped the Cal State San Bernardino Coyotes 12-6 at Fiscalini Field.
Locking in the win, besides just improving the Broncos' record on the season and their lead in the CCAA South Division, also marks win No. 200 for CPP head coach
Randy Betten. Betten is in his sixth season at the helm of the Broncos.
The win improves CPP to 29-14 on the season complete with a 21-10 mark in California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) play. The loss for the Coyotes drops them to a season tally of 20-23, complete with a 15-16 mark in CCAA play.
Securing the win for CPP was the Broncos' second pitcher in the contest
Peter Beattie. The Green and Gold's starter in the game was
Peter Bayer and the senior dealt for 3.2 innings, allowing just one earned one to cross.
CPP locked in the lead in the third inning as a homerun from
Nic Hernandez, his fifth of the season, left Fiscalini Field in a hurry.
Caleb Romo and
Jason Padlo both scored on Hernandez' homer.
The bottom half of the inning saw a single to center score a Coyote runner, making the scoreboard read 3-1.
In much the same fashion as the previous inning,
Caleb Romo added another three-spot to the visitor half of the scoreboard with a three run homerun of his own. His fifth homer of the season cleared the left field fence with ease.
Inning number four saw three runs score for the home team as an error and a pair of walks for the hometeam scored those runs, making the score 6-4. The sixth inning also saw the Coyotes score as a sacrifice fly brought home run No. 5.
The top half of the seventh inning provided CPP with another scoring opportunity as
Cody Martin singled to center field to score Hernandez from third.
Keeping with the apparent 'rule of three' that the Broncos had going,
Daniel Pitts hit the Green and Gold's third three-run homerun of the game. With that shot to left, the Broncos led the Coyotes 10-5. Pitts' homer was his fourth of the season.
In the top of the ninth,
Jason Padlo singled up the middle to score
Jared James from second and bring home the Broncos' 11th run. Later in the inning, a wild pitch scored
Jacob Bernardy to give the Broncos their 12th and final run.
The bottom half of the ninth inning saw leadoff batter Ryan Cooper hit his first homerun of the season, bringing the game to its final score of 12-6.
The Broncos and Coyotes will return to action on Saturday as they both head to Scolinos Field on the Cal Poly Pomona campus with the first pitch scheduled for 2 p.m.
Contest No. 2 of the day will be the series finale and is scheduled to be a seven-inning game. It will begin approximately 35 minutes after the conclusion of game one.
