CSUEB Baseball Clinches CCAA North Crown
- May 9, 2016
Cal State East Bay baseball finished the 2016 regular season as California Collegiate Athletic Association North division champions after defeating Cal State Monterey Bay 5-2 on Sunday.
The Pioneers (30-18, 21-16 CCAA) and Otters (32-17, 21-16 CCAA) finished tied atop the division standings, but East Bay won the tie-breaker by virtue of taking three out of four games this weekend. The Pioneers will enter their first-ever CCAA postseason tournament as the top seed in the North.
CSUEB also notched a 30-win season for the third time in the last four seasons under head coach Bob Ralston.
Sunday's festivities started with the annual Senior Day ceremony, honoring the 11 Pioneer seniors playing their final home game. Once the game got going, junior Troy Resch put the Pioneers on the board early, driving in the game's first run with a two-out single in the first inning. After CSUMB tied it, Resch picked up his second RBI with another two-out hit, a double down the left field line to give the Pioneers the lead back.
The Otters tied it again on a home run by Will Rosado, but the Pioneers had the last rally. They loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the eighth. After Monterey Bay got a force out at home for the first out of the inning, Zack Perugi belted a two-run single into the right-center gap to give the Pioneers the lead back.
Five Pioneer pitchers turned in solid outings to contribute to the victory. David Elzig got the start on Senior Day and tossed a scoreless first inning. Nick Sergi worked an inning and a third, and Brandon Acosta threw 3.1 frames, each allowing one run. Cole Compton got the first two out of the seventh before handing things over to Andrew Fernandez, who held the Otters scoreless over the final 2.2 innings to secure the win. Fernandez picked up the victory to improve to 4-2 for the season.
Rudy Navarro led the Pioneers offensively, as he has all season, going 3-for-3. The senior finishes the regular season with a .419 average, making him the CCAA batting champion. It's the highest-single season average by a Pioneer since the program joined the CCAA in 2010.
Resch and Perugi each tallied two hits and two RBI, and Michael Frantz was on base twice with a hit and a walk.
The Pioneers now await official word on their game time and opponent for the first round of the CCAA tournament, which begins Wednesday, May 12 at Banner Island Ballpark in Stockton.