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Johnny Pappas
7
Cal Poly Pomona CPP 13-28, 10-22 CCAA
12
Winner San Francisco State SFSU 22-14, 18-10 CCAA
Cal Poly Pomona CPP
13-28, 10-22 CCAA
7
Final
12
San Francisco State SFSU
22-14, 18-10 CCAA
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Cal Poly Pomona CPP 0 0 5 1 0 1 0 0 0 7 9 3
San Francisco State SFSU 3 0 0 3 0 1 4 1 X 12 15 0

W: GARZA, Ryan (2-3) L: Campbell, Andrew (1-1)

Game Recap: Baseball | | Alex Kline, Assistant Athletics Director for Communications

Broncos Drop Final Meeting Against San Francisco State

SAN FRANCISCO – Despite a middle inning offensive surge, Cal Poly Pomona couldn't hold off San Francisco State's lineup in the series finale, falling 12-7 at Maloney Field. The Broncos dropped to 13-28 overall and 10-22 in CCAA play with the loss, while the Gators improved to 22-14 and 18-10 in conference action.
 
Saying Goodbye to a Historic Opponent
On March 6th, 2025, San Francisco State University announced that three sports programs would be eliminated on July 1st due to budget cuts, one of them being baseball. This means Sunday's game officially marked the final meeting between the two squads.
 
In the 53-year history between the two teams, the Broncos own a 77-47 overall record against the Gators, including 64-38 in CCAA contests and 5-2 in postseason games. Furthermore, the Broncos are 40-19 at home, 35-27 in San Francisco, and have outscored the Gators 808-608 (+200) across their 124 meetings.  
 
The first recorded meeting between the two squads took place in 1972, where the Broncos would win by a score of 2-1. Longtime assistant coach Jimmy Ramos, now in his 42nd year coaching at CPP, was in his first year of coaching when that game took place.  
 
The two teams have had some historically significant matchups throughout their history. In 1979, the Broncos defeated the Gators en route to winning the NCAA West Regional at Kellogg Field (renamed Scolinos Field the next year in 1980). Then in 1983, CPP won three out of four games against SFSU in the NCAA West Regionals, once again at Scolinos Field, on the way to the Green & Gold's third national title in program history.
 
The two teams only met again in the postseason two more times, both in the CCAA Tournament in 2023 and 2024. However, one of the most notable games came on March 6, 2020, when the two teams played a marathon lasting 15 innings and exactly 5:00 hours at Maloney Field, the longest game in CPP history. The Gators would ultimately win that game by a score of 5-4, as the Broncos are just 3-6 all-time in extra-inning games against SFSU.
 
Though the Gators will remain a CCAA opponent in many other sports moving forward, including basketball, volleyball, cross country, track and field, and women's soccer, the CPP baseball program bids farewell to a half-century rivalry with one of the most prominent teams in The Bay.
 
The Game
After falling behind 3-0 in the first inning, the Broncos responded in the third. In his 200th career start in a Bronco uniform, Johnny Pappas drove in the first run of the game for CPP with an RBI single, followed by a sacrifice fly from Beau Betten. Julian Angulo delivered the big blow with a two-run triple down the right field line, and Marco Malerba capped the rally with an RBI groundout to give Cal Poly Pomona a 5-3 lead. The RBI was Malerba's 116th of his career, moving into 10th place on the all-time CPP list.
 
The Broncos kept the momentum rolling in the fourth when Sebastian Arguelles launched a solo homer to left, extending the lead to 6-3. San Francisco State, however, answered immediately. The Gators tied it at 6-6 in the bottom half of the inning thanks to a two-run double and an RBI single.
 
Cal Poly Pomona briefly regained the lead in the sixth when Tyler Chaffee singled to center, driving in Malerba to make it 7-6. But the bullpen couldn't keep the Gators at bay. SFSU tied it again in the bottom of the sixth, then pulled away with a four-run seventh, highlighted by a two-run triple.
 
Andrew Campbell (1-1) took the loss in relief for the Broncos, surrendering five runs on eight hits in 2.2 innings. Starter Tyler Reiter gave up seven runs (all earned) over 5.1 innings, striking out two.
 
CPP's offense managed nine hits, with multi-hit efforts from Pappas, Betten, and Arguelles, but defensive miscues—including three errors—proved costly.
 
 
Up Next
The Broncos will have a bye this coming weekend, followed by their final home series of the season against Sonoma State beginning on April 25th.
 
 
Bronco Bits
  • Over the course of the past 53 years, the Broncos went 77-47 all-time against San Francisco State, including 4-6 in their final 10 games.
  • Randy Betten is now 429-294 (.593) as head coach of the Broncos and 306-214 (.588) in CCAA play.
  • Betten remains 18 CCAA wins away from tying John Scolinos (324) for the most in program history.
  • This was just the second time SFSU has swept CPP in a four-game series, the last time being 2004. The Broncos have swept the Gators a total of five times, most recently in 2022.
  • The Broncos have the fifth-toughest strength of schedule in all of NCAA Division II, with their opponents going 625-410 (.604) entering the weekend.
  • Sunday marked Pappas' 200th game started in a CPP uniform, the third-most in program history behind only Jacob Bernardy (214) and Nic Hernandez (207).