TURLOCK — In his first career start, Micah Hall made a strong impression — then the Warriors collected some key hits to help the freshman as Stanislaus State blanked San Francisco State, 5-0, to win the rubber game of the series for the split.

Hall threw seven shoutout innings and gave up just two hits to earn the win on the mound as the Warriors kept their postseason chances alive by improving to 11-17 in CCAA play (20-20 overall). Stan State remains four and a half game behind Cal State East Bay for third place in the CCAA North with eight games to play. Six of the remaining eight games are at home, where the Warriors are now 16-5 this season.

In Sunday's finale, Hall was great. Needing a fourth starter, head coach Kenny Leonesio gave the rookie from Modesto's Beyer High School the ball to start. Hall, who had 15 appearances out of the bullpen mostly as a closer, was dealing on Sunday. After allowing a couple of free baserunners in the first, Hall settled down through seven innings. He allowed just three runners to reach second — twice due to Warrior errors.

Hall was finally lifted in the seven after SFSU's leadoff batter Ryan Taylor reached on a two-base throwing error. Chris Senn and Travis Johnston threw the final two innings to preserve the shutout.

Offensively, Patrick Mulry's solo bomb in the fourth got the scoring started as part of a two-run inning for Stan State. Gino Franceschetti also scored after singling to left, moved to second on an error, advanced to third on a bunt and scored on a Kyle Nixon sac fly.

Stanislaus tagged on two more runs in the sixth, keyed by a RBI double by Nixon and a Garrett Serino RBI single. Erik Colombini, who ended up 2-for-4 with a double, singled in a run in the eighth to make it 5-0.

Mulry, now with eight homers, also leads the team in batting average (.346), hits (47), RBI (29) and stolen bases (11). No Warrior during the CCAA era has led the team in all five of those categories.

San Francisco State (18-20, 11-16 CCAA) was led by Logan Marston with two of the five hits. The Gators employed five pitchers and used five bench players in the game.

The Warriors will face Sonoma State, one of the teams they have to beat to advance in the standings, next weekend for a four-game series. The first two games are here in Turlock in teh form of a doubleheader on Saturday at Noon.