CHICO, Calif. - A pair of four-run innings overturned 3-0 and 5-4 deficits as Cal Poly Pomona rallied past Cal State Dominguez Hills, 8-5, on Championship Saturday to complete its sweep through the 2022 California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Baseball Tournament at host Chico State's Nettleton Stadium.
The Broncos earned their third CCAA tourney banner, having previously won in Stockton in 2015 and 2019 under 12th-year head coach
Randy Betten. They therefore went back-to-back, as the 2020 and 2021 editions were wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic.
With a season-best eighth successive victory, second-seeded designated visitor CPP improves to 35-17 overall. Fourth-seeded Cal State Dominguez Hills sees its 2022 campaign ended at 28-27. The Toros would have needed to win twice Saturday to take the title.
CPP had moved up a spot back to No. 5 in last Wednesday's third and final official NCAA West Region poll, with that listing used to select the six NCAA Championship participants from the West. The Broncos' wins on Thursday and Friday were likely enough to remain in that top six, but they made sure of their continued postseason involvement by grabbing the CCAA's automatic berth. Betten and his squad will learn the details of where and when they begin their Road to Cary, on Sunday, May 15. The NCAA selection show airs live on
NCAA.com at 7 p.m. PT.
Cal Poly Pomona swept its four-game series with CSUDH to end the regular season at home last weekend, and also defeated the Toros in a winner's bracket matchup on Friday afternoon by the identical score of 8-5, also in come-from-behind fashion, largely courtesy of another four-run frame, in the seventh to overturn a 3-1 deficit. The Broncos thus went a perfect 6-0 against Cal State Dominguez Hills this year.
Graduate student second baseman
Ryon Knowles lined the very first pitch of the game to the opposite field in left for a single. The Broncos would go on to load the bases with two away through a walk and a hit-by-pitch, but a groundout ended the early threat.
Cal State Dominguez Hills jumped right on the scoreboard two batters into the home half, as Eric Smelko dumped a single into left and Scott Ogrin followed with an RBI double, also to left, that bounced over leftfielder
Ricky Nuñez's head. The Broncos nearly threw Smelko out at home. Pierson Loska then produced an opposite-field single to right to put Toros at the corners, still with nobody out.
CSUDH had registered five consecutive hits without an out being recorded to begin the home first in Friday's meeting between the teams, scoring twice. This time around,
Edrian Rangel escaped further damage with a huge assist from his infield. The true freshman southpaw first got Anthony Accordino to swing through a 2-2 offering. On his next pitch, Alberto Luevano stung a one-hopper up the middle that sophomore shortstop
Nick Lugo dove to his left to glove and flipped to Knowles, who made the turn to
Casey Slattery for the incredible twin killing.
Third-year freshman third baseman
Tyler Chaffee roped the second pitch of the second inning to the opposite field in right for a double, and moved to third on
AJ Nimeh's right-sided groundout. For the second straight frame, the Broncos drew a walk and a hit-by-pitch to fill the bags, as Slattery worked a five-pitch base on balls, his league-leading 40th, and Knowles wore one. Once again, Toro starter Damon Treadwell wriggled out of it, inducing a 6-4-3 double play.
CSUDH added to its lead in the third with back-to-back two-out solo blasts from its slugging duo of Ogrin and Loska, to center and left, respectively. Ogrin's was his league-best and school-record 24th of the season and fourth of the tournament, with Loska's his 10th of 2022.
CPP opened a fourth successive inning with a hit as Lugo singled through the left side. Chaffee added an infield single, with a throwing error advancing Lugo to third. A right-sided RBI groundout by Nimeh gave the Broncos their first run. A Slattery single and second hit-by-pitch to Knowles loaded the bases, and CSUDH went to the bullpen.
Josh Castillo's first pitch got away from him and hit
Johnny Pappas to force in Chaffee, and
Cesar Lopez's sacrifice fly knotted the score at 3-3. Nuñez slapped an RBI single through the left side that plated Knowles and gave CPP the lead for the first time on the day at 4-3. All three of those runs were charged to Treadwell. Pappas was thrown out trying to get to third on the Nuñez single, ending the four-run frame.
CSUDH loaded the bases in the home fourth on a leadoff single, one-out walk and a rare error by Knowles, just his second in 201 chances this season. Emilio Barrera's sacrifice fly leveled the score again at 4-4. Smelko's infield single into the hole kicked away from Lugo, but Matt Mecate tried to come home, and Lugo recovered and threw to Pappas for the third out with the red-hot Ogrin standing in the on-deck circle.
Noel Soto took over for Rangel to begin the fifth, making his first appearance since an April 30 start at Cal State LA, and ducked around a leadoff Ogrin single with a flyout, strikeout and groundout.
Soto fanned a pair around a one-out single in the sixth, but two straight two-out singles, from Barrera and Smelko, regained a 5-4 edge for the Toros. Smelko's was a first-pitch, opposite-field RBI knock to left. The CPP right-hander managed to get Ogrin to pop out to limit the damage.
Cesar Lopez and Nuñez each singled to open the seventh, up the middle and chopped over the third baseman's head, respectively.
Jacob Lopez went down 0-2 in the count, took a ball, and then was hit for the second time in the contest to fill the bags. On the first toss to him, Lugo smoked a ball to Accordino at first, who could only make the putout at his base to give Lugo the game-tying RBI groundout. Castillo retired Chaffee swinging, but Nimeh, the true freshman out of La Mirada, ripped a two-run double to right center to give CPP back the advantage at 7-5. A seventh hit-by-pitch, to Slattery, made CSUDH go back to the bullpen.
Donovan Waitman jammed Knowles with his first offering, but the veteran still was able to flare an opposite-field RBI single into left to send Nimeh home for 8-5. CPP batted around before the frame was over.
Soto registered the shutdown seventh, dodging a one-out Accordino single with his fourth strikeout and a pair of fly balls.
CPP looked in line to add to its cushion in the eighth as
Cesar Lopez singled and Nuñez walked, but Ogrin started a remarkably-tough 6-4-3 double play from his backside and a pop-up kept it an 8-5 game. The Broncos grounded into four twin killings on the afternoon.
Betten went to his closer to get six outs, and
Eric Romo obliged. The senior right-hander began with a 1-2-3 eighth via two flyouts around an unassisted groundout to Slattery. In the ninth, Romo faced the top of the Toro order and got Smelko to fly out to Nimeh, blew a 2-2 pitch past a swinging Ogrin, and got Loska to ground one to Slattery, sprinting over to make the championship-clinching putout and earn his seventh save.
Slattery and Ogrin were named CCAA Tournament Co-Most Valuable Players, marking just the second time the runner-up earned a share of that award as Ogrin was spectacular. Slattery, whose two-run home run off the foul pole in right field tied Friday's game with CSUDH in the seventh, was joined on the All-Tournament Team by Knowles, Nimeh, Nuñez, and ace
Will Rudy, CPP's starter on Thursday.
Rangel threw 4.0 innings and allowed four runs, three of them earned, on seven hits and one walk. He struck out four to equal his season high. The Pomona native turned in a 1-2-3 second, all on the infield with a groundout to Lugo, popout to Knowles and foulout to Slattery.
Soto (5-0) earned the winning decision. The sophomore went 3.0 innings with one run against him on five hits. He fanned four without a walk.
Cesar Lopez was 3-for-4 with a run and an RBI. Nuñez went 2-for-3 with two walks, one run and one RBI. Knowles, Lugo and Chaffee also provided two hits apiece. Slattery finished 1-for-2 with a walk, two hit-by-pitches, a run scored and a steal. Nimeh was 1-for-5 with a double, run and a season-high three RBI. He drove in six for the tournament. Eight of CPP's nine starters Saturday tallied exactly one run.
Treadwell gave up four runs on six hits, three hit-by-pitches and two walks over 3.1 frames. The sophomore right-hander struck out one. He cleaned up a third straight leadoff hit in the third with a fielder's choice groundout and a second 6-4-3 double play. Castillo (0-1) took the loss.
Click
HERE for CPP's postgame press conference with Betten, Slattery and Soto, and
HERE to access CCAA Tournament Central.
Bronco Bits: Cal Poly Pomona is 355-217 (.621) overall and 20-11 (.645) after its eighth CCAA Tournament appearance under 12th-year head coach
Randy Betten ... CPP is 12-11 away from home in 2022, 3-0 in neutral-site affairs, and 20-3 since the calendar flipped to April ...
Edrian Rangel made his 12th appearance and 11th start ... Rangel had gone 6.0 frames in four straight starts and won his previous three ... Betten posted the same batting lineup for the seventh consecutive contest ...
Ryon Knowles led off for the seventh game in a row and 11th time in 2022 ... Knowles' leadoff single in the first advanced his reached-base streak to 24 games ...
Jacob Lopez's two hit-by-pitches give him 12, with Knowles also getting plunked twice to give him eight ...
Tyler Chaffee's second-inning double was his 10th ...
Nick Lugo's single to open the fourth extended his reached-base streak to 21 games ...
Casey Slattery's fourth-inning steal was his second on two tries, with the two hit-by-pitches giving him 10 ...
Johnny Pappas' fourth-inning hit-by-pitch was his team-best 13th ...
AJ Nimeh's seventh-inning double was his sixth ...
Eric Romo has nine saves in the green and gold ... CPP was hit by a pitch seven times, one shy of its season high of eight against Cal State San Marcos on April 24 ... Three more walks increased the Broncos' CCAA-leading total to 292, with CPP having entered Friday ninth nationally ... After its 11th all-time CCAA Tournament appearance, CPP is 24-17 overall, 4-0 against CSUDH, 23-14 in neutral-site games, 7-6 at Nettleton Stadium and 6-4 as the No. 2 seed ... CPP holds a 129-89 lead in the all-time series that dates back to 1980, with 13 straight wins ... The Broncos have not defeated any foe more in their history, and have only played one opponent more than CSUDH (218), that being Cal State LA (229) ... The Broncos are 37-9 against the Toros under Betten ... CPP's first two wins over CSUDH in the CCAA tourney before Friday both came during its first title run in 2015 in Stockton (6-1 and 4-0), when it also swept through three games ... The Broncos played on Championship Saturday for the third straight CCAA Tournament ... 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 8, #4 Cal State Dominguez Hills 5
(Cal State Dominguez Hills eliminated)
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Co-Most Valuable Player: Casey Slattery, Cal Poly Pomona
Co-Most Valuable Player: Scott Ogrin, Cal State Dominguez Hills
Humberto Chiquito, Cal State Dominguez Hills
Giovanni Del Negro, Cal State San Bernardino
Ryon Knowles, Cal Poly Pomona
Pierson Loska, Cal State Dominguez Hills
Alberto Luevano, Cal State Dominguez Hills
Ethan McRae, Cal State Monterey Bay
AJ Nimeh, Cal Poly Pomona
Ricky Nuñez, Cal Poly Pomona
John Pfeffer, Cal State San Bernardino
Will Rudy, Cal Poly Pomona
