TURLOCK — The Cal State Stanislaus baseball team continues to play good baseball as the Warriors split a doubleheader on Saturday and now has a chance to win the conference series against one of the best teams in the CCAA on Sunday.
After dropping a 6-4 heartbreaker late in the first game, the Warriors scattered clutch hits in the nightcap for an 8-4 victory to improve to 16-20 overall and 11-15 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association.
Even though Cal State Stanislaus had a five-game winning streak snapped in game one on Saturday, the Warriors have gone 10-3 in their last 13 games. Stanislaus has a chance to pick-up its third straight CCAA series win for the first time since the 2008 season.
Sunday's finale is scheduled to start at Noon with probable pitchers
Blake Wilson for Stanislaus and L.A.'s Bryan Conant taking the mound.
Cal State L.A., which entered the weekend as the hottest team in the league, fell to 23-12 overall and 18-9 in the CCAA. L.A. had gone 10-2 before Saturday's twinbill and was in first place before first pitch on Friday. The Golden Eagles now trails UC San Diego (21-9 CCAA) by 1 1/2 games in the standings.
In Saturday's game two,
Nick Molina went 3-for-4 and drove in four runs to lead the Warriors offense as they sprayed 13 hits. Seven of the eight Warriors in the starting lineup had at least a hit with three players —
Scott Stetson,
Michael Chavarria and
Marcus Mastrobuoni — each with two safeties.
Molina drove in two runs with a single to right in the fourth inning and came up with a key two-run double in the sixth to allow Stanislaus to score three insurance runs. With a double in the Saturday opener, Molina went 4-for-8 with two doubles on the day.
Starter
Tyler Murphy didn't have his best stuff today but got the offensive support to pick up the win. The Turlock freshman gave up four runs on seven hits in five innings for a valiant effort.
Travis Johnston threw the final two innings of the short game and did not allow a run on a hit to earn a save.
The Warriors rallied to tie the game at 4-4 in the eighth inning of the first game on a RBI double by
Stevie Robinson, who after being moved to third on a bunt, scored on a sacrifice fly by Chavarria to even the score.
However, Cal State L.A. scored twice on a Dakota Hernandez double off of the all-realiable
Aaron Godinez. After inherited the situation from
Donnie Fairchilds, Godinez walked the first batter he faced and gave up the double to the left-center gap. Both runs were charged to Fairchilds who suffered the tough-luck loss.
Hernandez finished game one 4-for-5 to lead the Golden Eagles.
Nick Voumard went seven innings on the bump in game one. He gave up two earned runs on six hits while fanning six batters. He also walked five players in the no decision.
