POMONA - The Cal Poly Pomona baseball team jumped on top with six runs before Montana State University Billings could register an out, and went on to win a wild one, 15-8, Friday afternoon at Scolinos Field.

With the victory, CPP improved to 4-2. MSUB, a West Region foe and member of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC), dropped to an even 3-3. The Yellowjackets had won the opener of the four-game non-conference series, 9-4, on Thursday night.

Tops among several offensive highlights for Cal Poly Pomona was sophomore catcher and leadoff man Johnny Pappas. The Chino Hills native out of Ayala High School went 3-for-4 with three doubles, two walks, two runs and a career-best three RBI. He reached base in each of his first five plate appearances with the two walks sandwiched around the three doubles over the first six innings, after getting on safely in his final four plate appearances in both of the previous two games. Pappas thus reached base in nine consecutive trips to the plate, and has now done so in 13 of his last 15. His first collegiate three-double effort on Friday, to match the single-game program record held by several Broncos, came less than 24 hours after his first two-double performance.

CPP took advantage of wildness by MSUB starter Matthew Houlihan and got to him in a big way in their first turn at bat. Pappas and Dante Palacio each worked six-pitch walks to lead things off. With his very next offering, Houlihan hit Jacob Lopez to load the bases. Casey Slattery followed with a five-pitch base on balls to force Pappas across for the game's first run, and immediately on the next toss, Ricky Nuñez produced a two-run single. After Nick Lugo doubled into the gap in right center to send Slattery home for a 4-0 lead, Houlihan departed.

Carl Lawson greeted Michael Buchanan with a two-run single, marking his first collegiate hit. The third-year freshman centerfielder would get caught attempting to steal third, for the first out of the frame, and two groundouts finally ended the rally.

MSUB loaded the bases right back to begin the second on two singles around a four-pitch walk. Two more free passes in succession put the 'Jackets on the board, still with nobody out. Leadoff man Carson Green's RBI single in between a pair of called third strikes, halved his team's deficit at 6-3, before CPP could get out of the inning.

Pappas' first double opened the home second. He moved to third on a groundout and scored on Lopez's single up the middle. Slattery's first extra-base hit as a Bronco, an opposite-field double to left center, sent Lopez home. Lugo's sacrifice fly plated Slattery for 9-3.

Having just answered MSUB's three-run second with one of its own, CPP saw a two-run James Anderson double chase its starter with one away in the third.

Pappas' opposite-field double into the gap in right center in the third drove in Bryce Wooldridge, who had reached via error.

The offensive affair continued, as Green took the first pitch of the fourth and drove it to right center for a triple, and scored on Hayden Foltz's right-sided groundout to bring on a third CPP arm. Second-year freshman right-hander AJ Moreno came on for his second stint to get out of the inning though a strikeout and groundout.

Following their only 1-2-3 frame of the day in the home fourth, the guests tallied two more in the fifth on an RBI double by Anderson and RBI single by Cooper Dulich. Connor Tousignant took over on the mound and walked his first batter to put two on for the top of the order. With the tying run at first, he got Green to hit into a 4-6-3 inning-ending double play.

Pappas kept his hot streak going in the fifth as he pulled a double to left to score Luke Watson, who had been hit by a pitch to lead off and stolen second.

CPP concluded the scoring with another four-run outburst in the sixth. The home side filled the bags with no outs on two walks and a bunt single, with a walk to Pappas forcing in Lawson. Following a pitching change, a Palacio sacrifice fly, RBI fielder's choice groundout by Lopez and RBI single by Slattery made it 15-8.

Tousignant (3-0) went a career-long 3.2 scoreless frames with just a walk against him in picking up his league-best third win in as many appearances thus far in 2022. He needed only five pitches to register three flyouts in the sixth, nine tosses to notch three infield outs in the seventh, and 12 throws for a third straight perfect frame in the eighth. The Brea product out of Fullerton College set down 10 Yellowjackets in succession after walking that first hitter.

Zuko Tillman earned his first start for CPP in a second appearance in the green and gold for the first-year transfer from CSUN. The left-hander struck out his first two batters swinging and got an infield foulout to cap a quick, 11-pitch inning. Tillman went 2.1 innings and allowed five runs, four of them earned, on four hits and four walks, striking out four. Matt Orozco handled the ninth as the fifth and final Bronco arm.

Slattery was 2-for-4 with a double, two walks, two runs and three RBI. Nuñez went 3-for-4 with a walk, run, steal, and two RBI. Lopez wound up 2-for-5 with three runs, two RBI and a steal. Lawson and Lugo each were 1-for-4 with a run and two RBI. Watson and Wooldridge both scored twice, with Watson reaching base in each of his last four trips.

Houlihan (0-1) gave up two hits, three walks and a hit-by-pitch, and was charged with six runs. Anderson finished 3-for-4 with two doubles, two runs and three RBI. Green had two hits and Dulich drove in two.

Cal Poly Pomona and MSUB wrap up this four-game series with a doubleheader on Saturday, Feb. 12. First pitch at Scolinos Field is set for 12 p.m., with the nightcap scheduled for a shortened seven innings. Please click here for CPP Athletics' latest baseball spectator policy.

All CPP baseball contests throughout this 2022 season are streaming live online via the CCAA Network at www.ccaanetwork.com. Fans may also download the CCAA Network app on your iOS or Android smartphone, tablet, or through web streaming devices such as Amazon Fire, Roku or Apple TV. The CCAA Network has moved to a subscription-based model at just $9.95 per month. Subscribers have access to all CCAA broadcasts, both live and on-demand.

Bronco Bits: Cal Poly Pomona is 324-202 (.616) under 12th-year head coach Randy Betten ... Johnny Pappas has a league-best six doubles over the first six contests ... Pappas is the first Bronco with a three-double game since current teammate Ryon Knowles achieved the feat against UC Colorado Springs on Feb. 1, 2019 ... Casey Slattery posted the first multi-hit and multi-RBI game of his CPP career ... The second-inning steal by Ricky Nuñez was his first as a Bronco ... The sixth-inning steal by Jacob Lopez was the first of his college career ... Luke Watson produced his first college walk in the third, first steal in the fifth, and first hit in the sixth ... Second-year freshman Robert Hook made his college debut as an eighth-inning pinch-runner ... CPP's double play to end the fifth was its second of 2022 ... The 15 runs are the Broncos' most since the only game in which they reached double digits during the shortened 2020 season, an 18-5 road romp over Cal State LA on Feb. 22, 2020 ... With 10 more walks, CPP has reached double figures three times already this year ... These programs had never met prior to Thursday night ... CPP is the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) coaches' preseason favorite, garnering six of the 11 first-place votes ... MSUB is picked to finish fourth in the five-team GNAC ... The Broncos were receiving votes outside of the top 40 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper preseason poll, released on Dec. 21.