SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – After dropping the semifinal game to Cal State San Bernardino in the afternoon, the Broncos rallied in the nightcap to defeat Cal State San Marcos and advance to the CCAA Tournament Championship. Saturday will mark the seventh time the team has advanced to the finals since their first appearance in 2000, as they hunt for their fourth CCAA Tournament title.
Friday night also marked the team's 30
th win of the season, as the team has now hit that milestone in 11 of Head Coach
Randy Betten's 14 full seasons at the helm since 2011.
CPP 1, CSUSB 3
The Broncos struck first against the Coyotes in the fourth inning, breaking through on a
Sebastian Arguelles solo home run to left field to take a 1-0 lead. Arguelles is batting .462 in the tournament thus far with a team-leading six hits and three extra-base hits. Cal Poly Pomona put together quality at-bats throughout the game, finishing with seven hits, but could not string anything together in the middle innings to help extend that lead.
On the mound,
Anthony Vasquez delivered a quality start for the Broncos. The right-hander worked 6.0 innings, allowing just one run while striking out four against an offense that is notoriously difficult to face at their home park. CSUSB evened the score in the sixth inning, capitalizing on a stolen base and a subsequent RBI single to tie the game at 1-1.
The game turned for the worse in the bottom of the eighth inning when CSUSB broke through for two more runs, coming from a soft infield single and a bases loaded walk to take a 3-1 lead.
Cal Poly Pomona threatened at times, but stranded seven runners on base and was unable to mount a comeback against San Bernardino starting pitcher Kailer Saunders, who tossed a complete game in the win.
Matt Lorenzano was charged with the loss out of the bullpen for the Green & Gold, allowing two runs over the final two innings.
With the loss, the Broncos fell into the loser's bracket and had to play an elimination game against Cal State San Marcos at 7:00 PM.
CPP 8, CSUSM 6
The Cougars got on the board in the third inning on a solo home run, putting San Marcos up 1-0. CCAA Player of the Year Zech Samayoa followed with a two run homer shortly after, putting CSUSM ahead 3-0. In the top of the fifth inning, Samayoa once again launched a homer to center, this time a three-run shot, to put the Cougars up 6-0. All of San Marcos' offensive production would come on those three long balls in the first five innings.
Then came the second half of the game.
Cal Poly Pomona answered immediately in the bottom half of the fifth, breaking through with four runs on three hits. After getting two runners on via hit-by-pitches, the Broncos got on the board with an RBI single from junior
Julian Angulo. Moments later, Arguelles drove a double into the left-center gap to plate another run. In a bizarre play, a pitch in the dirt got lodged in the catcher's equipment, allowing Angulo to automatically advance a base and score.
With two outs in the inning and the score now 6-3, senior
Gage Gonzales came up with a big pinch-hit single to left field to score Arguelles, trimming the lead to 6-4.
The momentum completely shifted in the Green & Gold's favor in the sixth inning, when
Austin Duarte nabbed a would-be run with a strong throw from right field with a good tag from catcher
Ashton Romero. The Broncos would escape the jam without allowing a run to score.
The Broncos continued to apply pressure in the bottom of the sixth, stringing together a single from Duarte, double from Angulo, three walks, and a sacrifice fly from
Bryan Richman to go up 7-6.
The Broncos added an insurance run in the seventh on a single from
Jack Sanders, marking eight unanswered runs for CPP. From there, Pomona's bullpen held firm, limiting further damage and closing out the 8-6 victory.
Starting pitcher
Anthony Cosme worked through 5.0 innings on the mound, striking out five batters while allowing seven hits and just one walk. Cosme's only mistakes came on the three long balls. The bullpen came up big for CPP in the win, as
Geo Hernandez picked up his second win of the season with 3.0 scoreless innings.
Gavin Smith picked up his second save, striking out the final three batters of the game, the last being Samayoa, to emphatically punch the ticket into Championship Saturday.
Up Next
The Broncos and Coyotes will face off in the CCAA Championship tomorrow, May 9
th, at 1:00 PM at Fiscalini Field. If the Broncos win that game, the two teams will then play in a winner-take-all approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game.
Bronco Bits
- The Broncos are 29-11 all-time against Cal State San Marcos since their first meeting in 2016, including 4-0 in the postseason.
- The Broncos are 91-82 all-time against Cal State San Bernardino since their first meeting in 1992, including 2-4 in the postseason.
- Randy Betten is now 461-322 (.589) as head coach of the Broncos, and 46-35 (.568) in the postseason.
- As a program, Cal Poly Pomona is now 1,798-1,607-21 in its 66th season overall, including 82-60 (.577) in the postseason.
- The Broncos were ranked No. 3 in the latest NCAA regional rankings.
- Jack Sanders is fourth all-time in home runs with 29 in his CPP career. He is five away from tying Jenzen Torres for the program record (34), and three away from tying Kyle Garlick for the single-season record (17).
- Saturday will mark the seventh time the team has advanced to the finals since their first appearance in 2000, as they hunt for their fourth CCAA Tournament title.
- The Broncos are now 30-22 all-time in the CCAA Tournament, and 6-5 as the No. 3 seed.
