POMONA -- After Tim Holdgrafer hurled another gem to combine a shutout with Troy Bethell in game one, the Cal Poly Pomona rallied from an early six-run deficit in game two en route to a pair of victories, 6-0 and 8-6, respectively, over Cal State Dominguez Hills to open CCAA play Saturday at Scolinos Field in Pomona.

The 16th-ranked Broncos improve to 4-4 overall and open the conference season at 2-0.  The Toros fall to 1-2 (0-2 CCAA).

In the opener, Holdgrafer took a perfect game into the sixth inning, retiring 17 straight batters to begin his day, but with two outs in the top of the sixth, he walked a batter, then gave up an infield hit to the next batter to end his no-hit bid.  The Toros eventually loaded the bases before Holdgrafer struckout Domenic Colacchio to escape the jam.

Holdgrafer went back out for the seventh and got two quick outs, but with his pitch count eclipsing the 100 mark and giving up a two-out hit, he was lifted for Bethell, who continued to dominate the CSUDH lineup until the end.  Holdgrafer scattered just the two hits and gave up one walk while striking out nine to improve to a perfect 3-0 on the year.  Bethell earned his first save of the season after working the final two and a thirds innings, giving up two hits and a walk, along with one strikeout, which ended up being the final out of the 6-0 shutout victory.

Offensively, the Broncos offered run support early thanks to loading the bases with no outs in the bottom of the first inning.  Brennan McKenzie scored Christian Moya on a fielder's choice, but Toro starter Tristan Garnett settled down and got out of the inning without giving up any more runs in the frame.

Two more runs came home in the fifth for CPP on a RBI single by Ryon Knowles, scoring Moya, followed by a sacrifice fly by Drew Cowley, scoring Nic Hernandez for the 3-0 lead.  In the seventh inning, three more runs crossed the plate for the Broncos on two more sacrifice flies and the last on a defensive error by CSUDH to account for the 6-0 win.

Knowles went 3 for 4 in game one with a double and a RBI, while Moya went 2 for 2 with two runs scored at the top of the lineup.

In the nightcap, Cal State Dominguez Hills didn't waste anytime to put six runs up on the scoreboard, scoring twice in the second inning, and four more times in the third to take a 6-0 advantage on CPP starter Ben Mora.  The Broncos, however, would chip away slowly, getting solo home runs in consecutive innings by Nick Peifer and Hernandez to cut the deficit to four runs. 

In the sixth, Brennan McKenzie and Cesar Lopez recorded RBI singles to make it 6-4 in favor of the Toros. It was in the bottom of the eighth when the Broncos capped their come-from-behind win with four runs, three of them coming on a bases-clearing two-out double on a 2-0 pitch by Hernandez to make it 7-6 before Knowles padded the lead with a RBI single of his own six pitches later for the eventual 8-6 win.

Peifer, Hernandez, McKenzie and Lopez each had two hits apiece to account for eight of the 10 CPP hits in game two.

Cal Poly Pomona and Cal State Dominguez Hills will wrap up the four-game series with a doubleheader Sunday at Toro Field in Carson, beginning at 11:00 am.