Monday, April 2, 2018

Golden Eagles Drop A Tough One To Wildcats

Recap, photo courtesy of CAL State LA
LOS ANGELES -- Cal State LA's baseball team saw an eighth-inning rally fall painfully short Saturday in the finale of a four-game California Collegiate Athetic Association series against Chico State.

The Golden Eagles rallied from a 6-2 deficit and had the go-ahead runs on base in the eighth inning, but fell to the Wildcats, 6-5, at Reeder Field. After winning the first two games of the series, Cal State LA dropped the final two by close scores of 3-1 and 6-5 and had to settle for a split.

After Kyle Blackman's sixth-inning grand slam gave the Wildcats a 6-2 lead, the Golden Eagles got one run back in the bottom of the inning on a towering home run from Sean Watkins that made it 6-3.

The Golden Eagles then nearly took the lead in the eighth inning only to see the inning end on an unfortunate note.

Armett Johnson reached on an error to start the inning and Andre Gregory was hit by a pitch with one out. Watkins walked to load the bases and reliever Jae Wagner came on to get Nic Bereaud for the second out. Adam Gordon dropped a two-run double down the left-field line to drive in two and make it 6-5. Jorge Garcia then did exactly what he should have done -- he jumped on a pitch on the outer half of the plate and lined it to right field, but it went right at Blakeman, who made the catch to end the inning.

Ayala picked up a two-out hit in the ninth, but Wagner got the final out to earn the save.

Saxon Andross got the start for the Golden Eagles and he was outstanding through five innings before tiring in the sixth. Chico State loaded the bases on a pair of soft singles and a walk and Blakeman erased a 2-1 deficit with a grand slam home run. The Wildcats added a run to make it 6-2.

Dylan Suppan blanked the Wildcats over the final 3 1/3 innings to give the Golden Eagles a chance for a comeback win.

Cal State LA had taken a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the second inning. Anthony Moreno doubled in a run to tie the game and he scored on a run-scoring single by Noe Garcia.

Cal State LA will return to action with the opener of a four-game series at San Francisco State on Friday.

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