POMONA - Cal Poly Pomona drew 10 walks but could manage just three hits in falling to Biola University, 6-2, in non-conference baseball action on a warm Tuesday night at Scolinos Field.

A winner of a season-high five straight coming in, CPP drops to 13-12 after its final non-league contest of 2022. Biola, located in La Mirada and a member of the Pacific West Conference, moves to 12-9. The Eagles had also defeated the Broncos in Pomona, 12-4, back on Feb. 22.

Biola's Tyler Baca began the game by dropping a double between CPP leftfielder Dante Palacio and centerfielder Carl Lawson. Connor Tousignant, in his first mound start in the green and gold following 13 relief stints across the 2020 and 2022 campaigns, put a called third strike on Jorge Lucero before getting Oscar Serratos Jr. to line out to shortstop Ryon Knowles, who caught Baca straying off second to double off the Eagle centerfielder and end the frame.

Cal Poly Pomona loaded the bases with two gone in its initial turn at the plate on a pair of four-pitch walks to Knowles and Lawson around a Chris Aguilar single through the left side, but freshman left-hander Andrew Zittel froze Dylan Long on the outside corner to get out of it.

The home second began with a Casey Slattery single off an 0-2 pitch and a third walk already by Zittel to Bryce Wooldridge. That promising situation quickly evaporated, however, as Baca made a tremendous, leaping grab of a hot-shot liner by Palacio and doubled up Slattery at second, and Jacob Lopez fouled out two tosses later.

Biola immediately countered with a threat of its own through two singles and a fielding error that put a pair of Eagles in scoring position with nobody out. A two-strike single by Matthew Nyce through the left side made it 2-0 for the visitors and ended Tousignant's evening. Despite a great, diving catch by Lawson on a fly ball by Baca that was tailing toward the gap in right center for the first out of the frame, a two-out, opposite-field RBI double to right by Serratos Jr. made it a 3-0 game.

A two-out, two-run triple down the right field line by Baca extended the Biola advantage to 5-0 in the fourth. A Lucero triple deep to center to lead off the seventh led to a sixth Eagle score.

CPP put two men on in the fifth through a leadoff error and two-out walk to Knowles, but could not cut into the deficit. The Broncos worked two more walks around a Lawson flyout deep to center in the next inning. Two strikeouts kept them without a tally, however.

CPP did not need a hit to finally get on the board in the home seventh, loading the bases with one gone on a walk and two hit-by-pitches before an RBI fielder's choice groundout off the bat of Aguilar. Lawson drew another base on balls to fill the bags up again, and after a pitching change, Long was plunked by Nick Merkin's second offering to force Tyler Chaffee across. That's all the home side would get.

Tousignant (3-1) went two-plus innings and allowed three runs on four hits and no walks. The junior right-hander struck out three. Two of them bookended a 1-2-3 second. Sophomore southpaw Matthew Henry navigated a one-out double and two-out infield single to post a scoreless fifth. Drew D'Ambra struck out one during a perfect sixth, and Zuko Tillman got a popout and two swinging strikeouts in an easy eighth. Scott Armstrong fanned one in the middle of a 1-2-3 ninth.

Jacob Lopez went 0-for-3 before being lifted defensively to begin the sixth, ending his reached-base streak at 22 games and his hit streak at 15, both program bests thus far for this 2022 season. Knowles was 0-for-2 but walked three times, matching his single-game high as a Bronco. Long went 1-for-3 with a walk and his second RBI of the year.

Making just his second collegiate start, Zittel tossed two shutout frames with two hits, three walks and a single punch-out. Sophomore right-hander Jake Anderson (2-0) retired the first six Broncos he faced across a perfect third and fourth in relief of Zittel, with five straight on strikes after a Knowles flyout. The sophomore right-hander ultimately fanned a career-high six over three scoreless innings to nab the winning decision.

Fifth-place Cal Poly Pomona hits the road in its return to California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) play this weekend, heading up to Rohnert Park to take on Sonoma State for four. The series opener on Friday afternoon, March 25, is set for a 2 p.m. first pitch.

All CCAA 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 333-212 (.611) overall under 12th-year head coach Randy Betten ... Second-year freshman Jacob Lopez began his sixth straight game in the leadoff spot, but drew his first collegiate start at third base after the first 22 had all come as the designated hitter ... Ryon Knowles made his first start at shortstop as a Bronco, having previously started at second base (98) and third (twice this season) ... Sunday actually marked Knowles' 100th game in the green and gold, with all 101 appearances at CPP now coming as a starting infielder ... Freshman Robert Hook made his first collegiate start, in right field ... Chris Aguilar drew his first start as a Bronco, as the designated hitter in the cleanup spot ... Bryce Wooldridge made just his third start of 2022, all at second base, and first since back-to-back starts Feb. 10-11 against MSUB ... It was Wooldridge's first appearance since the previous matchup with Biola on Feb. 22 ... Wooldridge's fifth-inning stolen base was the first of his college career on his first attempt ... Dante Palacio made his first start since Feb. 26 at CSUSB ... With Nick Lugo, Ricky Nuñez and Johnny Pappas all having the night off, no Bronco has started all 25 games in 2022 ... Ten more walks increased the Broncos' CCAA-leading total to 147, with CPP having entered Tuesday in a two-way tie for 12th nationally ... The Broncos are 11-6 at home in 2022 ... Biola leads the all-time series dating back to 1999, 13-5-2 ... The Feb. 22 meeting was the first between these programs in over a decade, since CPP took a 9-3 home decision on Feb. 18, 2009 ... BU was an undefeated 7-0-1 over the previous eight matchups going back through 2003 ... The Broncos are 4-6-2 at home against the Eagles ... Tonight's game was just the second for CPP against BU under Betten (0-2) ... CPP was the preseason favorite in the CCAA, earning six of the 11 first-place votes, with the Broncos currently in fifth (8-7) ... Biola was picked to finish third in the nine-team PacWest, and is in fourth right now (8-4) ... BU finishes 4-5 against the CCAA this season.