POMONA - The Cal Poly Pomona baseball team erupted for a season-high 17 runs in between single tallies in the first and ninth and drubbed Cal State East Bay, 17-2, in the finale of a California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) series at Scolinos Field on Sunday afternoon.

With a fifth consecutive triumph, CPP improved to 13-11 overall and 8-7 in the CCAA. Cal State East Bay, which has now lost six in succession, falls to 10-12 overall and 3-9 in league play. The Broncos had already clinched a second straight home series win with a 12-7 decision on Friday night and a doubleheader sweep on Saturday by scores of 8-5 and 3-2. Sunday's result marked CPP's first series sweep of 2022.

The Broncos produced a season-high seven doubles, with two more coming from fifth-year senior rightfielder Cesar Lopez to wrap up his incredible weekend. CPP's 16 hits fell one short of matching its 17 from Saturday's first game. The home side totaled 18 doubles and four triples for the series, slugging .563.

A two-out rally led to the game's first run in the initial half, with Francisco Pedraza's triple preceding Matthew O'Mahony's RBI single.

The Broncos quickly loaded the bases thanks to the top four in their lineup who had combined to go 17-for-32 (.531) during Saturday's twin bill, as Jacob Lopez, Ryon Knowles and Cesar Lopez all provided singles around a Johnny Pappas flyout. Ricky Nuñez followed with an infield single to tie the game. East Bay went right to the bullpen. New pitcher Blake J. Campbell cut down the lead runner on a comebacker, but then walked true freshman centerfielder AJ Nimeh to force in the go-ahead tally. A groundout curbed the damage.

CPP used a familiar refrain to score two in the second, as Cesar Lopez produced his sixth double of the series and league-leading 12th on the year, to drive in Casey Slattery and Pappas, who had both drawn walks. It was a two-out, opposite-field two-bagger inside the left field line, and gave him a single-season career best of 27 RBI already just 24 games in.

The Broncos padded their advantage in the fourth, beginning the frame with a two-strike Slattery single at the bottom of the order and Jacob Lopez's fourth double of 2022 to put runners at the corners. A third intentional walk of Cesar Lopez's career followed an infield popout and a comebacker. Nuñez came through with the two-out, two-run single to left. Two more unearned runs came around when Campbell threw Nick Lugo's grounder away, ending the senior right-hander's day. Another infield throwing error, this time by the shortstop, made it 9-1.

In the sixth, it was Cesar Lopez yet again, sending a second opposite-field double down the line in left on the first pitch of his at-bat, after a leadoff walk to fellow senior Ryon Knowles. The Downey native wound up on third as Knowles scored, and trotted home on a Nuñez single to left. Slattery's two-run, opposite-field double into the gap in left center on another 1-2 pitch after back-to-back two-out walks, increased the bulge to 13-1 as the Broncos went to wholesale changes.

CPP scored twice more in both the seventh and eighth through a Lugo sacrifice fly, Nimeh single and two-run Knowles double.

Noel Soto (1-0) pitched 6.0 innings and allowed one run on six hits and no walks, earning his first win in the green and gold. The sophomore right-hander struck out four. He cruised through 1-2-3 shutdown frames in both the second and third after CPP's back-to-back two-run rallies. Soto needed just six pitches to get through the fourth despite a leadoff runner from an outfield error. He quickly helped offset that mistake by gathering another comebacker and firing to his shortstop, Lugo, to catch that Pioneer off second base. Soto left a pair stranded in the sixth.

Sophomore left-hander Matthew Henry took over and struck out three straight East Bay hitters after an infield error led off the seventh. Zuko Tillman and Andy Hurtado threw an inning with one strikeout apiece.

Nuñez wound up 3-for-4 with a run and season-high four RBI. Cesar Lopez was 3-for-3 with two doubles, one walk, three RBI and a season-best three runs. Jacob Lopez went 2-for-4 with a double and two runs. Slattery broke out with a 2-for-3 effort, contributing a double, walk, two runs and two RBI. Pappas was 2-for-5 with a walk, two doubles and season-high three runs. Knowles went 2-for-5 with a double, walk, run and two RBI.

Cesar Lopez batted .667 (10-15) and slugged 1.133 with seven doubles, five runs, four multiple-RBI outputs and 12 RBI total for a weekend that will likely result in a first career CCAA Player of the Week distinction.

True freshman left-hander Jackson Ellis (1-3) gave up two runs on four hits while recording a single out in his second college start. Campbell provided season bests of 3.1 innings and two strikeouts, surrendering seven runs, four of them earned, on four hits and four walks.

Cal Poly Pomona remains at home for one final non-conference game for the 2022 campaign, concluding its two-game set with area foe Biola University of the Pacific West Conference this Tuesday night, March 22. First pitch at Scolinos Field is at 5 p.m. The Eagles (11-9, 8-4 PacWest) took the first meeting on Feb. 22, 12-4.

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 333-211 (.612) overall and 234-155 (.602) in CCAA play under 12th-year head coach Randy Betten ... Noel Soto drew his fifth appearance and fourth start on the mound ... Second-year freshman designated hitter Jacob Lopez started his fifth straight game in the leadoff spot ... Jacob Lopez led off his third contest in a row with a single to waste no time in extending his reached-base streak to 22 games and his hit streak to 15, both the longest by a Bronco in 2022 ... Cesar Lopez's previous single-season career high of 26 RBI came during his freshman year in 2018 ... Cesar Lopez has a league-leading and career-high 13 doubles on the year, with four career two-double efforts all coming this month (three to round out this weekend) ... Johnny Pappas' seventh- and eighth-inning doubles give him 12, with Ryon Knowles adding his seventh in the eighth ... Pappas now has three multiple-double performances this year ... Nick Lugo's seventh-inning sacrifice fly was his team-best third ... The Broncos scored double-digit runs for the seventh time ... CPP's seven doubles are its most since hitting nine in the 2019 opener at UCCS on Feb. 1, 2019 ... Nine more walks increased the Broncos' CCAA-leading total to 137, with CPP having entered Friday in a three-way tie for 11th nationally ... The Broncos are 11-5 at home in 2022 ... CPP leads 36-21-1 in a series that is thought to go all the way back to 1965 (19-10-1 in Pomona since 1994), with five straight wins, all at home ... The Broncos are 25-14 against the Pioneers under Betten (15-8 in Pomona) ... Prior to Friday night, these teams had last met March 29-31, 2019, splitting a four-gamer in Pomona with CPP winning twice around a Saturday doubleheader sweep by East Bay ... CPP is the preseason favorite in the CCAA, earning six of the 11 first-place votes, with CSUEB in seventh.