POMONA, Calif. – The Cal Poly Pomona baseball team won both games of Friday's doubleheader, improving to 15-13 on the season and 11-9 in conference play. The Broncos are now in fourth place in the CCAA, just one game behind San Francisco State after claiming the series victory against the Gators.
Game 1: CPP 3, SFSU 2
Evan Adolphus dominated the Gator lineup in his third start of the season, going 6.0 scoreless innings and allowing a mere two hits. The junior registered four strikeouts, while stranding all six base runners he allowed.
The Broncos would gain the lead in the bottom of the second inning, coming from back-to-back sacrifice flies from
Marco Malerba and
Nick Lugo to make the score 2-0. The middle innings would prove to be quiet, as only two hits would be recorded by either team. In the top of the seventh inning, the Gators erased CPP's lead with four singles to drive in two runs, evening the game at 2-2.
With runners in scoring position and two outs in the top of the eighth inning,
Drew Atherton entered from the bullpen and struck out the first (and only) batter he faced on five pitches, maintaining the tie score.
After two quick outs in the bottom of the eighth,
Brent Cota stepped up to the plate and smashed a 2-1 pitch over the fence in right field to give the Broncos a clutch 3-2 lead in the game.
Closer
Chris Fields would lock down the game in the ninth, striking out the last two batters he faced for his third save of the season. Having been the pitcher of record when the Broncos took the lead, Atherton picked up his first win of the season having faced just one batter.
Game 2: CPP 8, SFSU 3 (7 innings)
Noel Soto delivered a strong performance for the Green & Gold in his seventh start of the season, pitching his fourth career complete game. The senior went all 7.0 innings, allowing three earned runs on seven hits while striking out two.
The bats showed up in the series finale, collecting 12 hits including four multi-hit performance – led by third baseman
Tyler Chaffee with three. Chaffee batted .438 against the Gators, leading the team with seven this and four RBI.
After allowing two runs in the first inning, the Broncos responded with a pair in the second and third, tying the game at 2-2. In the bottom of the fifth, a big double by
Anthony Gibbons scored
Jack Sanders, giving CPP a 3-2 lead. They would add on five more runs over the next inning and a half, coming on five hits.
The Gators would make some noise in the seventh, seeing the tying run get on deck. But Soto would ultimately force a fielder's choice for the final out of the game, securing Cal Poly Pomona's 15
th win of the season.
Up Next
The Broncos will travel on the road next week to Stanislaus State (12-16-1), who currently sit eighth in the conference standings. The Broncos are 63-38-1 (.623) all-time against the Warriors dating back to the 1993 season. The games will be played on April 5
th, 6
th, and 7
th, and will be available to watch on the CCAA Network.
Bronco Bits
- The Broncos went 9-7 in the month of March.
- The Broncos are now 77-42 (.647) all-time against San Francisco State dating back to the 1972 season, including 7-3 in their past 10 games.
- Head coach Randy Betten now owns a career record of 399-255 (.610) at CPP with a record of 282-186 (.603) in conference games. He is just one away from the 400th of his career.
