LOS ANGELES - Cal Poly Pomona rallied from a 6-1 deficit and later struck for 13 runs in a remarkable 10th inning to defeat Cal State LA, 22-9, in the opener of a four-game California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) baseball series at Reeder Field on Friday night.

Now a winner of five straight, CPP improves to 27-15 overall and 22-10 in the CCAA. With Cal State Monterey Bay scoring four times over the last two frames to take an 8-7 decision in Chico earlier Friday, the Broncos are tied for second in the standings alongside Chico State. They are also on the verge of clinching a CCAA Tournament berth in Chico next month, with a magic number of just one. A third successive loss drops Cal State LA to 15-28 overall and 10-23 in league play.

For Cal Poly Pomona on the night, the 22 runs off of 21 hits were both season highs. The rather incredible 10th saw 16 Broncos stride to the plate, with the 13 runs coming on 11 hits, two walks and one early error. In fact, all 13 scores came after the first two Broncos were retired, with the error following a two-out triple by Johnny Pappas and thus making all 13 unearned.

Indeed, the 13 runs were a new program record for a single frame. CPP had previously tallied 11 times on three occasions, most recently on April 21, 2017, in the eighth inning of a 28-12 home romp against Cal State San Marcos.

After pulling his triple into the gap in left center, Pappas scored on that critical error that allowed Cesar Lopez to reach and advance to second. Ricky Nuñez sent the next pitch to the gap in right center for an opposite-field RBI double, Cal State LA went back to the bullpen, and the floodgates opened. Ryon Knowles and AJ Nimeh had RBI singles, and Casey Slattery walked with the bases full to force Nick Lugo in. Jacob Lopez then singled in a pair on the first pitch he saw from the new hurler, and Pappas returned to the dish with an RBI single. Run-scoring singles still came from Cesar Lopez, Carl Lawson and Knowles, ahead of a two-run Lugo double that capped the scoring. Lugo was thrown out at third trying to extend to his first triple, to finally end the inning.

Just five pitches into the game, Jacob Lopez roped his second triple of the year to the opposite field in right. With one gone and Broncos at the corners, Nuñez's fielder's choice RBI groundout made it 1-0 early.

Cal State LA opened the home second with a double and single, and grabbed a 2-1 lead on an RBI single by Gerardo Castaneda and sacrifice fly by Hayden Luff. The Golden Eagles then put together a four-run rally in the third.

The home fourth again began with a double, this time from leadoff man Johnny Pacheco, who immediately moved to third on a wild pitch from Will Rudy. The Bronco ace stranded him there with a strikeout, groundout and flyout.

Cal Poly Pomona loaded the bases with just one out in the fifth through a leadoff hit-by-pitch and two walks. The Golden Eagles registered the second out of the frame at the plate through a comebacker to the pitcher, but an infield fielding error on the very first pitch to Knowles enabled two runs to score and make it 6-3.

The Broncos completed their fightback in the sixth against a new Golden Eagle arm. Nimeh drew a one-out walk and Jacob Lopez worked the count full before accepting another free pass with two gone. Pappas then drilled an 0-2 offering for a two-out, two-run double, and on the very next pitch, Cesar Lopez lifted his second home run to right, a two-run, go-ahead shot for 7-6. The inning wasn't over, and an infield Nuñez single preceded Knowles' opposite-field RBI double for 8-6.

The home side's two-out, two-run rally tied things right back up in the bottom half, with a Pacheco single coming ahead of Wilem Drozdowski's first-pitch home run to left. It was his second of 2022.

CPP regained a one-run edge in the seventh. Tyler Chaffee doubled for starters, and still standing at second after back-to-back groundouts, came sprinting around to score on Jacob Lopez's two-out RBI single. Both hits were of the opposite-field variety into the gap in right center.

Matt Orozco took over for Rudy to begin the home half and after striking out his initial batter and issuing a five-pitch walk, got a 4-6-3 double play to preserve the one-run lead.

Cal State LA filled the bags with one out in the eighth, drawing two walks around a hit-by-pitch and forcing a second Bronco pitching change. Eric Romo got Drozdowski to swing through a 3-2 offering. The junior closer again went 3-2 to the next batter, A.J. Salgado, and once again, got the huge swinging strikeout to take CPP into the ninth up one.

Romo (1-1) procured the first two outs in the ninth before a double and single knotted the score again at 9-9. Cal State LA actually had the winning run at third following an infield single, but Romo got Nick Atkins swinging. He was then the beneficiary of the big 10th to grab his first winning decision of 2022, finishing with four strikeouts. Matthew Henry notched the final three outs, with two on strikes.

Rudy threw 6.0 innings and allowed eight runs on 10 hits and two hit-by-pitches without a walk. The third-year freshman right-hander fanned five. He needed just nine tosses to breeze through a shutdown first with two swinging strikeouts and a groundout to Lugo at short. Rudy induced a 4-6-3 twin killing to clean up a one-out error in the fifth.

The individual offensive superlatives were too many to reflect entirely. Every Bronco who batted scored at least once, nine of 10 had a hit, and nine of 10 drove in a run. Pappas finished 3-for-7 with a double, triple, three runs and three RBI. Lugo was 4-for-7 with a double, run and two RBI. Jacob Lopez and Cesar Lopez each had four runs, three hits and three RBI, and combined for five walks. Knowles went 3-for-6 with a double, walk, two runs and three RBI.

Yuji Sakane gave up three runs, just one of them earned, on three hits, a hit-by-pitch and six walks over 5.0 frames. The junior southpaw struck out five. He ducked around a leadoff walk and one-out single in the third thanks to a 6-3 double play, and dodged a leadoff walk in the fourth with two strikeouts and a flyout. Mikell Chavez (2-3) took the loss.

This series continues with doubleheader action on Saturday, April 30. First pitch at Reeder Field in Los Angeles is slated for 1 p.m., with the seven-inning nightcap following after about a 40-minute break.

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 347-215 (.617) overall and 248-158 (.611) in CCAA play under 12th-year head coach Randy Betten ... Betten posted the same batting lineup for the fifth game in a row ... Second-year freshman designated hitter Jacob Lopez started his 23rd straight game in the leadoff spot ... Will Rudy made his 13th collegiate appearance, with his 10 career mound starts all coming this season ... Rudy's strikeout-to-walk ratio of 10.29 at the start of the day was second in the CCAA and third in all of Division II ... Rudy has gone at least 5.2 frames in all 10 of his starts now in 2022, and allowed no more than one walk in any of his outings ... Rudy's strikeout-to-walk ratio went up to 11.00, with 77 strikeouts against seven walks ... Cesar Lopez's first-inning walk advanced his reached-base streak to 23 games, which is now the longest by a Bronco in 2022, eclipsing Jacob Lopez's 22-gamer ... Cesar Lopez's sixth-inning home run was the fifth of his college career ... Ryon Knowles' leadoff walk in the fourth moved his reached-base streak to 14 ... Knowles' sixth-inning double was his 10th, and extended his current team-best hit streak to 14 games ... Johnny Pappas' 10th-inning triple was his second ... Ten more walks increased the Broncos' CCAA-leading total to 247 ... The Broncos are 8-9 away from home and 3-0 in extra innings in 2022 ... CPP reached double-figure runs for the 12th time (11-1), and for the second game in a row for the second time ... The Broncos drew double-digit walks for the ninth time this season and third time in the last four games ... CPP's largest single-inning scoring output this year prior to tonight was eight runs, which it achieved twice ... The latter of those, ironically, was an eight-run eruption in the 11th inning of another Friday Rudy start, an 8-0 combined shutout at Sonoma State on March 25 ... The Broncos' previous season highs were 17 runs and 17 hits ... CPP equaled its single-game season highs of two triples and eight extra-base hits ... The Broncos' 21 hits match the single-game season high around the CCAA in 2022, and were their most since they notched 22 in a 19-0 win at Cal State Monterey Bay on April 7, 2019 ... The 22 runs are their most since the 28-12 win over Cal State San Marcos on April 21, 2017 ... CPP holds a 117-109 lead in the all-time series that dates back to 1965, with six straight wins ... The Broncos have defeated only one opponent more, as they have topped another area rival in Cal State Dominguez Hills 123 times ... CPP has not, however, played anyone more than the Golden Eagles, now with 226 meetings (212 against the Toros) ... The Broncos are 25-18 against the Golden Eagles under Betten (9-13 at Reeder Field) ... CPP was the CCAA's preseason favorite, earning six of the 11 first-place votes, with CSULA picked eighth, with one first-place nod.