TURLOCK — With more dominant performances by the Stanislaus State bullpen, the Warriors completed the three-game series sweep over Cal State San Bernardino with a 4-3 win on Saturday.
Austin Fitzpatrick and
Gino Franceschetti supplied the power and four Warrior hurlers threw up zeros in relief as Stan State extends its winning streak to four games to improve to 24-14 overall and 14-13 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association.
After Tuesday's non-conference tilt against William Jessup, the Warriors will have three more CCAA series to play as they compete for a spot in the conference tournament at Banner Island Ballpark in Stockton. Four teams in the CCAA North all have 14 wins as of Saturday afternoon with games still in progress. Leader Chico State is 23-3 in CCAA play heading into the day.
Unlike Friday's games, Saturday's match-up was much closer with the Coyotes arms holding their own. The Warriors scored twice in the first highlighted by a RBI triple by Franceschetti and a run-scoring double by Fitzpatrick to take a 2-1 lead. The Warriors tagged on two more runs in the third on a two-run blast to left-center field by Fitzpatrick to make it 4-1.
Cal State San Bernardino (10-28, 8-19 CCAA) scored twice on a two-out bloop single to right off the bat of Damion Edmonds to make it 4-3 in the fourth inning and ultimately chased starter
Stewart Alexander after five frames.
Then the Warrior bullpen took over, again.
Tyler Murphy,
Ian Chandler,
Jarrett Veiga and
Nick Voumard each pitched a shutout inning to preserve the win. Voumard closed out the series in the ninth with his 10th save of the season despite allowing a single up the middle. That Coyotes two-out hit was the only one allowed by the Stanislaus bullpen in nine innings during the series.
Four relievers, including
Micah Hall and Fitzpatrick, tallied five hitless and scoreless innings in Friday's twinbill.
For the first time during the series, the Warriors' bats were silenced after Matthew Moriarty took over on the mound for CSUSB. Moriarty pitched three perfect innings with three strikeouts while facing the minimum of nine batters.
Tuesday night's non-conference game versus William Jessup is at 6 p.m. at Warrior Baseball Field.