TURLOCK — This weekend further proved that the Warriors can compete against the best teams in the West this season.
Despite losing the series finale, 4-3, Stanislaus State played tough alongside No. 3 UC San Diego while out-pitching the second-best staff in Division II. The Warriors, now 22-14 overall and 18-12 in the CCAA, remain in fourth place in the standings.
They also added more quality wins over a West Region power with Sunday's doubleheader sweep. UC San Diego, the top ranked team in the West, is now 22-7, 17-7 CCAA.
Stan State also had wins over Azusa Pacific, Cal State Monterey Bay and Chico State — and will host San Francisco State at the end of April. The Warriors are currently ranked No. 4 in the NCBWA West Region poll.
Brandon De La Guardia went 3-for-4 with a RBI and
Braeden Oki was 2-for-4 on Monday but the Warriors never really got much going on offense. Still, they were in the game until the final out.
Trailing by one run,
Michael Wyatt hit a two-out pinch hit double through the right-side (the grounder went off a diving second baseman Keenan Brigman's glove into foul territory, allowing Wyatt to get to second), until the game ended on an infield pop-up.
Brandon Scott kept the game close with 4 2/3 innings of strong relief. He allowed just a single and UCSD scored an unearned run without ever hitting the ball against him. Scott struck out five and walked three to give the offense a chance.
Kevin Hahn got the loss to fall to 4-3.
In the UCSD sixth, Brandon Stewart pinch ran for Chris Schukencht who walked, and went to second on a wild pitch. Stewart stole third and scored on a throwing error.
For the series, Stan State's team ERA was 2.65 — better than UC San Diego's 3.09. The Tritons had entered the weekend with the second best team ERA in all of Division II.
Stanislaus State, which is now 13-5 in home games, will make its final CCAA road trip this weekend to Cal Poly Pomona. Then, the Warriors will have 10 straight home games to close out the regular season. The Warriors wouldn't have to go far if they make the CCAA tournament either as the Championship is at Stockton's Banner Island Ballpark.
