TURLOCK — The Warriors busted the game open late as Stanislaus State took game one of the pivotal series over San Francisco State, 7-2, Friday night.
 
Brandon De La Guardia went 4-for-5 with three RBI and Jack Large made his return with a 3-for-4 game as the Warriors improved to 27-18 overall and 23-16 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association.
 
As Stan State tries to move up in both the CCAA standings and the West Region rankings, the Warriors' lowered their magic number to one for the postseason. The Warriors could qualify for the CCAA tournament with a win or a Cal Poly Pomona loss on Saturday.
 
In the first NCAA West Region rankings released earlier this week, Stanislaus State was No. 7 and San Francisco State No. 5.
 
Chase Wheatcroft got the win on the mound, but had to get out of many jams. Still, he went seven innings and gave up just a hit (a solo homer to Trevor Rogers) and struck out two. Matt Pulos picked up his ninth save of the season in as many chances after throwing the last two innings. He struck out five but did allow a run in the ninth to end his scoreless streak at 32 innings.
 
The Warriors quickly went out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning off SF State ace Jack Higgins on an infielder grounder by Grant Bunker and a Large single to left.
 
Higgins was replaced by Luis Salinas due to an injury in the second inning and Salinas had Stan State batters off balanced for five innings.
 
But in the seventh, De La Guardia singled up the middle to make it 3-1. Then the Warriors blew it open in the ninth scoring four times for a 7-1 lead.
 
San Francisco State (21-13-1, 19-13 CCAA) was led by Rogers who was 2-for-3 including that solo homer.
 
Pulos allowed the run after sitting through a long bottom of the eighth. He gave up a bad-hop single by Riley Cleary then a single through the right side to start the ninth. Cleary eventually came around to score on a double by pinch hitter Brady Dorn off the manual scoreboard.