CHICO, Calif. - The Cal Poly Pomona baseball team bided its time and made several huge pitches and defensive plays to stay in it before exploding for seven runs over the final three innings to down Cal State Dominguez Hills, 8-5, in the winner's bracket of the 2022 California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Tournament on Friday afternoon at Nettleton Stadium.
With a seventh successive victory to match its longest win streak of 2022, second-seeded CPP improves to 34-17 overall. Cal State Dominguez Hills drops to 27-26. The Toros had won two in a row since being swept in a four-game series in Pomona to conclude the regular season, upsetting two nationally-ranked teams on Wednesday and Thursday in No. 28 Chico State and No. 10 Cal State Monterey Bay. The Toros moved from the No. 6 seed to the No. 4 after Wednesday's triumph over the hosts, with the reseed under the new event format.
CPP advances into Championship Saturday at 12 p.m. and would have to be beaten twice to be denied a third tourney banner and indeed its second straight. The Broncos are still the defending champs, having turned their No. 6 seed into an improbable title in 2019 in Stockton before the 2020 and 2021 editions were wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic. CSUDH faces an elimination game against third-seeded Cal State San Bernardino (27-26) Friday at 7:05 p.m. The Yotes knocked out the top-seeded regular-season champion Otters on Thursday night, 6-3.
With CPP the designated visitor in this one, CSUDH jumped on top in the home first with a pair of runs on four hits before an out was recorded. A soft infield single preceded an opposite-field double to right center by Scott Ogrin on back-to-back pitches. Pierson Loska followed with a two-strike RBI single to left center, and Anthony Accordino likewise sent a 1-2 offering to center for an RBI single and a 2-0 lead. A fifth consecutive hit loaded the bases, but to his immense credit, fifth-year right-hander
Drew Atherton limited the damage from there.
Atherton, who had surrendered five hits over five frames in a combined seven-inning shutout over the Toros exactly one week prior in Pomona, finally notched his first out via the infield fly rule. A second straight batter worked the count full, but lined a bullet right at second baseman
Ryon Knowles. A flyout to left finally ended the rally.
CPP had its first eight batters retired in order Thursday before
Casey Slattery worked a seven-pitch base on balls. On Friday, it was the first seven ahead of a five-pitch walk to true freshman centerfielder
AJ Nimeh. Slattery followed by roping his seventh double just inside the right field line. Knowles' right-sided RBI groundout halved the deficit.
Atherton cleaned up a leadoff infield single in the third by catching Alberto Luevano's soft looper and doubling Accordino off of first base. He walked Kevin Moscoso and fell behind Matt Mecate 3-1, but on that third ball, sophomore catcher
Johnny Pappas fired to Slattery to pick off Moscoso as the Broncos registered the shutdown inning the hard way.
Toro starter Nate Ortiz began the fourth with back-to-back called third strikes, but the Broncos loaded the bases on consecutive singles by
Jacob Lopez and
Nick Lugo, and a walk to
Tyler Chaffee. Ortiz got Nimeh swinging, however, to preserve his side's 2-1 edge.
That gap grew again in the home half, as Atherton got himself in trouble right off the bat when Mecate singled and Caleb Ellis was plunked with the first two pitches. Emilio Barrera's opposite-field single to right scored Mecate and brought up the top of the Toro order. A wild play followed. Eric Smelko lifted an easy fly ball to center. Nimeh's throw back into the infield got away. Barrera got caught in a rundown, and Knowles ultimately threw to Pappas to get Ellis trying to score.
A change on the mound occurred between another hit-by-pitch and a walk to Loska that filled the bags.
Scott Armstrong got Accordino to line out sharply to
Ricky Nuñez in left to keep CPP in the contest.
CSUDH threatened again in the fifth, producing a walk and a single both with one away, but Armstrong escaped through a flyout to
Cesar Lopez in right, and a swinging strikeout on Barrera.
The Broncos put together their own rally in the sixth.
Cesar Lopez drew a five-pitch walk to reach base safely for the first time in the tournament, and Nuñez singled to left. A strikeout and flyout around a sacrifice bunt got Toro reliever Donovan Waitman out of the jam unscathed.
Cal Poly Pomona dodged another bullet in the sixth.
Connor Tousignant walked Ogrin with one gone. Loska then lifted a fly ball deep to right center that Nimeh tracked to the wall and leapt up to catch, but was not quite able to hang on. Though it fell for a double, Nimeh may very well have saved a two-run home run. An intentional walk filled the bags, but Tousignant induced a first-pitch, 5-2-3 inning-ending double play, with Pappas making the great turn and Slattery digging out his low throw.
Moments later, it was tied. Nimeh drew a five-pitch walk from Waitman, and CSUDH went to left-handed specialist Zachariah McCorvey. Slattery didn't care. The junior college transfer laid into a 1-1 offering that was clearly gone judging by his pronounced gallop out of the batter's box. It was just a matter of whether it would stay fair, and it hit the right-field foul pole for 3-3. The long ball was Slattery's sixth of 2022 to tie him with Knowles and Nuñez for the team lead.
The inning continued as CPP batted around. Knowles also walked on five pitches, and the Toros went back to the bullpen. Pappas laid down the perfect sacrifice, and the catcher's throw got away from Barrera, who was charged with the error.
Cesar Lopez was intentionally walked, and Nuñez tucked a two-run double just inside the third base line off of Luevano's glove. A fourth free pass in the frame to
Jacob Lopez loaded the bases once more, still with no outs, and caused another mound switch. The Toros kept the game from completely blowing open, though, as they cut down
Cesar Lopez at home on a fielder's choice groundout, and Luevano expertly started a 5-3 inning-ending twin killing.
Matt Orozco took over for Tousignant and registered the quick 1-2-3 shutdown frame on three fly balls, throwing 13 pitches.
The Broncos tacked on two insurance runs in the eighth. Nimeh proved he can both taketh away, and giveth, the rookie leading off and hammering an 0-2 pitch out to right for his first collegiate home run. Slattery then belted his third extra-base hit of the afternoon, another double, to the gap in right center, moved to third on Knowles' groundout, and came home on Pappas' sacrifice fly for 7-3.
Nuñez made a tough catch running into the gap in left center on a hard-hit fly ball by Barrera for the first out of the home eighth. Another flyout and Orozco's only strikeout were sandwiched around a league-best 21st home run for Ogrin, a new single-season program standard.
CPP answered that tally in the ninth.
Jacob Lopez led off with an infield single, was sacrificed to second by Lugo, and scored as Chaffee's right-sided grounder went under Barrera's glove for a second CSUDH error.
Eric Romo navigated the ninth. Accordino's leadoff home run was the first against the senior closer all year in 23.1 frames. The Toros brought the tying run to the plate thanks to a Luevano single and Mecate walk around a swinging strikeout on Moscoso, but Romo came back to fan pinch-hitter Vincent Temesvary and Barrera, both swinging as well.
Atherton provided 3.2 innings and allowed three runs on eight hits, two hit-by-pitches and two walks. He struck out one. Tousignant (6-1) was the beneficiary of the four-run seventh, picking up the winning decision.
Slattery finished 3-for-4 with the home run, two doubles, two runs and two RBI. Nimeh was 1-for-3 with two walks, a home run, one RBI and a season-high three runs. Nuñez went 2-for-5 with a double and two RBI.
Ortiz gave up one run on three hits and two walks over 4.1 frames. The junior right-hander struck out four. He cruised through a 10-pitch first and seven-pitch second. McCorvey (1-1) was pinned with the loss. CSUDH left 13 runners on base.
All games of the 2022 CCAA Baseball Tournament, May 11-14, will stream 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.
Click
HERE for CPP's postgame press conference with Nuñez, Slattery and head coach
Randy Betten, and
HERE to access CCAA Tournament Central.
Bronco Bits: Cal Poly Pomona is 354-217 (.620) overall and 19-11 (.633) in its eighth CCAA Tournament appearance under 12th-year head coach
Randy Betten ... CPP is 11-11 away from home in 2022, 2-0 in neutral-site affairs, and 19-3 since the calendar flipped to April ... Betten posted the same batting lineup for the sixth consecutive contest ...
Ryon Knowles led off for the sixth game in a row and 10th time in 2022 ...
Drew Atherton had made 11 starts among 20 appearances prior to this season, and now has drawn seven straight starts in 2022 after four relief stints ...
Nick Lugo's fourth-inning single extended his reached-base streak to 20 games ... Lugo's two sacrifice hits give him a team-leading seven ... Knowles' seventh-inning walk advanced his reached-base streak to 23 games ...
Johnny Pappas' seventh-inning sacrifice hit was his fifth ...
Ricky Nuñez's seventh-ining double was his 12th, and first since April 29 …
Casey Slattery's second two-double game of the year gives him eight two-baggers ... Pappas' eighth-inning sacrifice fly was his team-best fifth ...
Cesar Lopez's eighth-inning double, his first hit of the tournament, was his league-best 20th ... Knowles' career-best hit streak was snapped at 22 games, the fourth-longest in program history ... Seven more walks increased the Broncos' CCAA-leading total to 289, with CPP having entered Friday ninth nationally ... In its 11th all-time CCAA Tournament appearance, CPP is 23-17 overall, 3-0 against CSUDH, 22-14 in neutral-site games, 6-6 at Nettleton Stadium and 5-4 as the No. 2 seed ... CPP holds a 128-89 lead in the all-time series that dates back to 1980, with 12 straight wins ... The Broncos have not defeated any foe more in their history, and have only played one opponent more than CSUDH (217), that being Cal State LA (229) ... The Broncos are 36-9 against the Toros under Betten ... CPP's two prior wins over CSUDH in the CCAA tourney both came during its first championship run in 2015 in Stockton (6-1 and 4-0) ... The Broncos moved up a spot back to No. 5 in Wednesday's official NCAA West Region poll, which is used to select the six participants of the 2022 NCAA West Regional ... The NCAA selection show will air live on
NCAA.com this Sunday night, May 15, at 7 p.m. PT ... CPP was among teams receiving votes outside Monday's Collegiate Baseball top 30.
2022 CCAA BASEBALL TOURNAMENT
HOSTED BY CHICO STATE - CHICO, CA
SCHEDULE
WEDNESDAY, MAY 11
Game 1 - #6 Cal State Dominguez Hills 11, #3 Chico State 5
(Chico State eliminated)
Game 2 - #5 Cal State San Bernardino 5, #4 Sonoma State 4
(Sonoma State eliminated)
THURSDAY, MAY 12 (after reseed)
Game 3 - #4 Cal State Dominguez Hills 5, #1 Cal State Monterey Bay 4
Game 4 - #2 Cal Poly Pomona 16, #3 Cal State San Bernardino 5
Game 5 - #3 Cal State San Bernardino 6, #1 Cal State Monterey Bay 3
(Cal State Monterey Bay eliminated)
FRIDAY, MAY 13
Game 6 - #2 Cal Poly Pomona 8, #4 Cal State Dominguez Hills 5
Game 7 - #4 Cal State Dominguez Hills 12, #3 Cal State San Bernardino 3
(Cal State San Bernardino eliminated)
SATURDAY, MAY 14
Game 8: #2 Cal Poly Pomona vs. #4 Cal State Dominguez Hills, 12 p.m.
Game 9: If necessary
