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Two days after erasing a 7-run deficit at home against Arizona Christian, Cal State San Marcos baseball closed two separate 4-run gaps to shock Concordia at CSUSM Baseball Field 13-9 on Monday.
The win improves CSUSM to 18-12 on the season. Concordia, suffering its first non-conference loss, falls to 18-11.
Monday's contest was a roller coaster ride that lasted for an impressive 3 ½ hours, with Concordia playing small-ball early to score two in the second and two in the fourth to take a 4-0 lead. CSUSM starter Matt Kretchmer went 4 2/3 innings, allowing 4 runs but just 1 earned while striking out 5.
The Cougars would methodically chip away over the next few innings. Trent Jemmett cut the lead in half with a two-run home run in the bottom of the fourth, an Austin Coleman RBI single made it 4-3 in the fifth, and a Kyle Secciani triple and Johnny Omahen infield single put CSUSM on top 5-4 in the sixth.
But one big inning undid all that work, as Concordia struck back with a five-run seventh to take a 9-5 lead. Reliever Kyle Smart came on to strike out the inning's final batter and strand two runners, in what at the time felt like a relief, but turned out to be a key point in the game.
In the last week, the Cougars have proven to be nothing if not resilient, and they demonstrated that again in the 8th inning on Monday. Secciani, who is scorching hot right now, led off with a single, and after a couple fly-outs CSUSM found themselves down 4 runs with 2 outs. That's when the offense went to work. Austin Coleman drew a walk, Trent Jemmett singled to score Secciani, and Jeremy Baum legged out an infield single to load the bases.
After Anthony Renteria bled out a hard-fought walk to force a run in, Mike Mecucci came to the plate with his team down two and the bases loaded. On a two-strike count, Mecucci got his bat on the ball, hitting a soft fly ball that found a home in center field, despite the diving effort of the Concordia fielder. All three runs would score, putting the Cougars on top 10-9. The offense wasn't done though, with Mitch Ferguson knocking a base hit, Secciani driving in another run with a single, and Johnny Omahen following that up with an RBI base hit of his own. Secciani would score on a passed ball, putting the Cougars up 13-9.
Despite sitting for roughly a half hour on the bench, Smart came back in the ninth, working around a walk and hit-by-pitch to close the game out with little fanfare. He picked up the well-deserved win for his efforts, with a big assist going to a Cougar lineup that has taken its lumps this season, but that has came up big in the team's last couple games.
CSUSM won't play another home game for a couple weeks; they'll be on the road at Menlo College this Friday and Saturday.
