POMONA - The Cal Poly Pomona baseball team twice overturned deficits and earned a second straight walk-off victory over the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, 5-4, in the finale of their season-opening non-conference series on Sunday afternoon at Scolinos Field.

CPP trailed 3-0 after the first inning and 4-3 at the end of four, before single tallies in the sixth and ninth. The Broncos (3-1) thus rallied to take the four-game set, 3-1, after dropping Friday night's initial meeting with the Mountain Lions (1-3). CPP stormed back from down 7-2 to walk off an 8-7 winner in sweeping Saturday's doubleheader.

With one away in the ninth, Johnny Pappas came very close to ending it himself, doubling off the left field wall for his first extra-base knock of 2022. Ricky Nuñez, a first-year transfer who was still looking for his first hit as a Bronco after starting his career in the green and gold at 0-for-14, promptly singled through the left side to put men at the corners.

Following a third UCCS pitching change, Tyler Chaffee took new arm Brock Weiss' first offering and gently laid down a perfect bunt down the first base line that Weiss ran over and picked up, but the true freshman had absolutely no chance to get the speedy Pappas sprinting across home plate with the decider. The play was ruled a bunt single for Chaffee.

Earlier, the visitors struck first for the first time in the series, as a one-out single in the initial frame was followed by back-to-back, two-out RBI doubles, and an RBI single for a quick 3-0 advantage.

Nick Lugo doubled down the line in left for CPP's first hit of the afternoon to begin the home second, taking a 1-2 offering to the opposite field. The shortstop moved to second on a right-sided groundout and scored on Carl Lawson's sacrifice fly to center.

Making the mound start in his CPP debut, right-hander Noel Soto got around a single to lead off the third and registered the shutdown frame through two strikeouts and a flyout in succession.

The Broncos went right back to work as Ryon Knowles walked, Pappas was hit by a pitch and Nuñez reached via error to load the bases with no outs in the bottom half. Chaffee then worked the count full and sent an RBI single through the left side, and fellow newcomer Casey Slattery's sacrifice fly tied the game.

This time, the Mountain Lions had the answer, and Jaeden Hegmann's two-out RBI double gave them back a 4-3 edge in the fourth.

With one gone in the sixth and a relief pitcher into the game for the visitors, Lugo drew a five-pitch walk and Jacob Lopez's first collegiate extra-base hit, in the form of a double into the gap in left center on a 3-2 toss, leveled matters once more at 4-4.

CPP moved Lopez to third following that tally, and runners to second base in the seventh and eighth, but left them stranded.

Soto went 6.0 innings and allowed four runs, three of them earned, on eight hits and one walk. The Long Beach City College transfer struck out 11, including the first batter he faced in the green and gold before the first-inning trouble. Soto's only perfect frame came in the fifth, and in just the sixth he became the first Bronco hurler to reach double-digit strikeouts in a game this year.

Eric Romo retired six of the seven batters he faced in the seventh and eighth, with four on strikes. Soto and Romo combined to punch out two hitters in every inning but the second, when Soto had one strikeout. Connor Tousignant (2-0) set UCCS down in order in the ninth on a groundout and two flyouts, to pick up his second winning decision.

For the series, CPP starters fanned 32 against just five walks over 22.1 innings. Bronco arms struck out a remarkable 52 Mountain Lions in all.

Offensively, Chaffee was 2-for-5 with two RBI, and Jacob Lopez 2-for-4 with a double and one RBI. Pappas reached base in each of his last four trips, going 1-for-2 with a double, walk and two hit-by-pitches, and scoring twice. Lugo went 1-for-2 with a double, two walks and two runs.

In his first appearance for UCCS, left-handed starter John Hoffman gave up three runs, all earned, on two hits, a walk and two hit-by-pitches in 5.0 frames. He struck out two, with those two ending his lone 1-2-3 inning in the fourth after the Mountain Lions had just retaken the lead. Hunter Owens (0-1) took the loss. UCCS committed five infield errors.

Cal Poly Pomona remains in home action for a second and final four-game non-conference series in the week ahead. The Broncos will welcome in West Region foe Montana State Billings (2-2) of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) from Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 10-12, ahead of Super Bowl Sunday. Thursday's primetime start is set for 5 p.m. at Scolinos Field. 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 323-201 (.616) under 12th-year head coach Randy Betten ... CPP now leads the all-time series, 10-9 (9-6 in Pomona) ... Redshirt freshman Carl Lawson drew his first career start in center field in place of senior Cesar Lopez, and drove in his first college run with his second-inning sacrifice fly ... With two today, Johnny Pappas has all three CPP hit-by-pitches thus far in 2022 ... Noel Soto's 11 strikeouts were the most in a game by a Bronco since Gavin Velasquez also had 11 against UC San Diego on Feb. 14, 2020 ... After earning one winning decision in seven relief appearances in his first season with CPP in 2020, Connor Tousignant now has two wins already in two stints this year ... The Broncos totaled five sacrifice flies on the weekend ... Excluding 2021 when CPP did not compete, these programs have opened the season against each other every year since 2017, to make up the entirety of their all-time series ... The 2017 campaign was the first in charge at UCCS for Dave Hajek, who was back at Scolinos Field this weekend as a two-time All-American for the Broncos between 1987-89, and CPP graduate in architecture ... These teams split four games in Pomona in 2020, with all four meetings decided by one or two runs ... In Colorado Springs, Colo., in 2019, the Mountain Lions took the final three games to win the series, 3-1 ... The Broncos are 7-1-2 in season-opening sets under Betten since 2012 ... CPP is the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) coaches' preseason favorite, garnering six of the 11 first-place votes ... UCCS is picked to finish as runner-up in the nine-team Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC), with one first-place nod, as the reigning and first-time RMAC Tournament champion ... The Broncos and Mountain Lions were both receiving votes outside of the top 40 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper preseason poll, released on Dec. 21.