POMONA – After falling behind by five runs, the Cal Poly Pomona baseball team rallied for five runs in the sixth, then
Brent Cota delivered a game-winning RBI single in the bottom of the ninth to defeat Cal State LA, 6-5, on Saturday afternoon at Scolinos Field in Pomona.
The Broncos rise to 21-12 overall and 13-10 in the CCAA. The Golden Eagles fall to 12-19 (7-15 CCAA).
CPP gave up a pair of runs in the fourth, then CSULA took advantage of an error that extended the sixth inning to plate three more as the Golden Eagles took a 5-0 lead.
The Broncos got all of the runs back in the bottom of the sixth thanks to RBI from
AJ Nimeh,
Tyler Chaffee (two RBI), Cota and
Nin Burns II to make it a 5-5 ballgame.
In the bottom of the ninth,
Marco Malerba led off with a single, then
Darius Price was intentionally walked. With two outs in the inning, Chaffee recorded an infield single to load the bases, then Cota hit a bomb off the wall down the right field line to score Malerba and the game-winner.
Six Broncos earned multi-hit games on Saturday, led by the 3 for 5 effort from Cota. In all, CPP had 14 hits on the day.
Eric Romo (4-1) came on in relief to get the win after shutting down CSULA in the final two innings.
Noel Soto started for CPP and went 5.2 innings, allowed five runs (two earned) on eight hits, striking out two.
Matt Orozco worked the other 1.1 innings and didn't allow a hit.
Cal Poly Pomona will hit the road next weekend for a four-game series at Cal State San Marcos. First pitch on Friday at the Cougar Baseball Field is set for 3:00 pm.
Bronco Bits
- Head coach Randy Betten is now 376-231 in 12 seasons at Cal Poly Pomona, including 204-90 at home and 266-170 in CCAA games.
- The walkoff win is the Broncos' seventh of the season, which is the most of any season since at last 2000; it is also the 61st walkoff win since 2000.
- The Broncos are now 121-112 all-time against Cal State LA.
- CPP is 5-2 this season when wearing its Green jersey tops.
- The Broncos are now 16-5 at home this season (39-11 at home the last two seasons).
- As a program, Cal Poly Pomona is now 1,709-1,517-21 in its 63rd season overall, including 655-432-8 in home games since the start of the 1980 season.
All home games and most away contests will stream live online via the CCAA Network at
www.ccaanetwork.com. You 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. For $9.95 per month, subscribers will have access to all CCAA broadcasts, both live and on-demand, for one low monthly price. Over half of each monthly subscription purchase will go directly back to the CCAA Athletic Department of your choice to support the student-athlete experience. Sign-ups are available right now at each universities' network portal. Just go to
CCAAnetwork.com, select your favorite team at the top and the 'click to subscribe.'
CPP Athletics has gone cashless! Tickets are on sale now for all CPP baseball home games. Fans are encouraged to purchase tickets online prior to coming to campus at
broncoathletics.com/tickets or by downloading the HomeTown Fan app on your smartphone or tablet.
New this year, only debit and credit cards will be accepted at the box office for admission. Limited concession items will be on sale on-site as well, and
the concession stand will also only accept debit and credit cards.
Follow the Broncos all season long by going to
broncoathletics.com/followus and sign up to receive breaking news and final score updates throughout the year.
