TURLOCK — The Stanislaus State baseball team used a couple of late inning rallies in Saturday's nightcap to earn a doubleheader split against Cal State Monterey Bay in a battle for position in the CCAA North.
Cal State Monterey Bay ran away to a 14-6 win in game one while stopping Stan State's winning streak at nine. Then, the Warriors came back to win the second game, 6-3, to post a 30-win season for the first time since 2009 as they moved to 30-15 overall and 19-14 in the CCAA.
The Otters (27-18) and the Warriors are tied for second place in the North Division once again. Sunday's series finale winner will take over sole possession of second place going into the final regular season next weekend.
Stan State could clinch a CCAA Tournament berth with a win and losses by Cal State East Bay and Sonoma State on Sunday.
In Saturday's nightcap,
Charlie Gaff came up big. After tying the game 1-1 in the second with a groundout, Gaff placed a double down the right-field line to drive in
John Holleran and Aldo Koutsoyanopulous to put the Warriors ahead 3-2.
Needing some insurance runs, Holleran doubled in two runs in the sixth inning for a 5-2 cushion and
Nathan Chunn tagged on another run with a RBI single.
Meanwhile, the Stan State bullpen did its job again.
Ian Chandler got out of a jam after two walks in the fifth,
Jarrett Veiga struck out the side for the second straight night, and
Nick Voumard closed out the game in the seventh. Voumard, who entered with a four-run lead, was not able to pick up a save as he remains tied for the National lead with 13.
Cody Kruip allowed two runs — one earned — on four hits in four innings to pick up his sixth win. He struck out three.
Gaff ended up with three RBIs and Koutsoyanopulos scored three of the six runs to lead the Warriors. Six different Warriors scattered hits in the nightcap with doubles by Holleran and Gaff.
Game one belonged to Cal State Monterey Bay as the Otters were able to find holes and used bloopers while capitalizing on free bases to score at will. The Otters led 7-0 after three innings en route to a 17-hit game with 16 singles. Max Sanderson and Hayden Duer head had three hits and Myles Hager drove in five runs for CSUMB.
Stanislaus, which didn't have a hit until the sixth inning, was led by
Nick Ippolito who went 2-for-4 adn drove in two runs.
