POMONA — The Warriors continue to hit and Chase Wheatcroft's pitching prowess returned as Stanislaus State kept on winning, this time in a 8-5 series opener win at Cal Poly Pomona Friday night.
 
Stanislaus State pounded out 16 hits against Tim Holdgrafer as the Warriors improved to 23-14 overall and 19-12 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. Stan State is 10-3 in its last 13 games.
 
Cal Poly Pomona had just five hits against Wheatcroft and Matt Pulos and fell to 17-22, 15-18. Holdgrafer, now 7-3, was far from his no-hitter gem as he gave up seven runs on 11 hits in four innings. The CCAA strikeout leader had just three Ks against the Warriors. Holdgrafter threw a no-no against UC San Diego on Feb. 22. 
 
Braeden Oki and Vinny Margiotta each had three hits and Grant Bunker doubled twice to lead the offensive charge. Brandon De La Guardia, Bunker, Michael Wyatt and Matt Elser all had two hits.
 
The Warriors used a five-run fourth to jump ahead 7-4 and never looked back. In the inning, Grant Victor singled in two runs with De La Guardia, Alexis Paz and Bunker all driving in runs. Stan State had seven hits and left two on base in the inning.
 
Wheatcroft, who has struggled to turn in a quality start since ending his scoreless streak, finally got back to his top form.

The senior ace threw 7 1/3 innings and gave up two earned runs on five hits with seven strikeouts to get the win — his first since March 1 when he threw a complete game shutout over Cal State East Bay.
 
Matt Pulos pitched the final five outs for his sixth save and fifth straight in as many outings. Despite allowing a run in the eighth on a ground-out, Pulos still has not been charged with a run in the last 24 1/3 innings. He struck-out three more batters and walked one Friday night.