AZUSA, Calif. – The Cal Poly Pomona baseball team split their doubleheader with Azusa Pacific on Saturday afternoon, securing the series win and a 3-1 start to the 2024 season. This was the first time the two squads had ever played a four-game series against one another, having only played sets of two games at a time – usually one at home and one on the road - dating back to 1993.
 
 
Game 1: CPP 9, APU 5
After scoring 10 runs on 12 hits in game two on Friday, the Broncos kept the hot bats going with nine runs and 12 hits in the first game on Saturday. Junior Jack Sanders powered the offense with three hits, three RBI, and two runs scored, including a two-run home run to left center in the top of the fifth inning – his first as a Bronco. Catcher Anthony Gibbons also went deep in the top of the eighth inning, his first home run of the season. Gibbons, Jacob Lopez, and Brent Cota each collected two hits in the game, with Gibbons and Cota both scoring multiple runs. Nick Lugo also added to the scoring with a double in the third inning, helping the Broncos extend their lead to 4-0.
 
Rhys Stevens toed the rubber for the Green & Gold, the first start of his junior campaign. The veteran righty tossed 4.2 innings, allowing two earned runs, both coming on back-to-back hits in the bottom of the fourth inning. Stevens finished with four strikeouts on 88 pitches.
 
AJ Moreno, Dylan Esquival, and Chris Fields each pitched in relief. Esquival and Fields combined for 3.2 innings, allowing just one combined hit and two walks. Fields slammed the door shut in the ninth, striking out three of the four batters he faced. The Riverside City College transfer has not allowed a hit in his first two outings of the season.
 
 
Game 2: CPP 0, APU 3 (7 innings)
The Bronco bats struggled to make solid contact in the final game of the series, collecting just one single off the bat of Jacob Lopez in the fourth inning. That was also CPP's lone chance to get on the board with runners on first and third, but an inning-ending double play erased the opportunity.  CPP batters only struck out four times in the game, while hitting 10 fly balls and grounding out six times.
 
Aren Alvarez shined in his CPP debut, striking out 10 batters in 5.0 innings of work. The UC San Diego transfer gave up two runs, both unearned, while allowing a total of six baserunners – four via the walk.
 
Rheego McIntosh also made his CPP debut in the sixth inning, struggling to find the zone while walking three batters. Edrian Rangel recorded the final three outs for the Broncos staff, throwing a near identical inning to Fields in Game 1 with three strikeouts and a walk in the four batters he faced.
 
 
Up Next
The Broncos will travel to Westmont College for a four game series this weekend, beginning on Thursday, February 15^th. The Warriors, who are coming off an NAIA national title, will be facing CPP for the first time as a member of NCAA Division II. The two schools have not faced one another since 1965, before NCAA Division II even existed. In that game 59 years ago, the Broncos came out on top 4-1.
 
 
Bronco Bits

• The Broncos are now 16-23-1 all-time against Azusa Pacific, including 5-5 in their past 10 games.
• Randy Betten now has a career record of 387-243 (.614) as head coach of the Broncos.
• This is just the seventh time in program's 63-year history that CPP has started the season 3-1, having also done so most recently in 2022.  
• Eight of the CCAA's 11 baseball teams have started the season at or above .500. The Broncos are the fourth-highest with a .750 win percentage.