Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 SAN MARCOS, Calif. – It is not often that a baseball team wins a game on a sacrifice bunt attempt. Yet, the No. 16 Cal State San Marcos baseball team has done it twice this season.

A wayward throw off a Rich Montanez sacrifice bunt lifted the Cougars to a 3-2 victory over Bethesda less than a week ago, and the Cougars found themselves in an eerily similar situation in Monday's game two against Sioux Falls.


After CSUSM (15-9) saw its 11-game winning streak snapped with a 4-2 loss to USF (5-6) in game one, CSUSM found itself down 5-4 heading into the bottom of the seventh thanks to a solo homerun by USF's Noah Durkin in the top of the frame.

Dylan Costello legged out a leadoff double in the Cougars' final turn at the plate before coming home on a game-tying RBI single by pinch-hitter Adam Tapia.

Now 5-5, the Cougars had runners on first and second with no one out after Bernard was plunked by Raymond Ojeda (1-2). Ojeda was replaced by closer Noah Coleman.

It was a no-brainer to call on Terrence Buchanan to move the runners into scoring position for the game-winning run. He laid down the sac bunt, but it was in such a good spot that it forced a hurried throw from Coleman. Buchanan would have been safe anyway, but newly-inserted first baseman Wesley Kroupa could not pick Coleman's throw out of the dirt.

It skidded into right field and Tapia waltzed across the plate without a throw for the game-winning run.

CSUSM took three of four games from Sioux Falls. Brandon Bentson hit .500 (7-for-14) with two doubles, three RBI and five runs against USF. Buchanan was 6-for-13 (.429) with four RBI and five runs scored. Bernard had three doubles and five hits in the series.

The 11-game winning streak was the longest in program history.

Game 1
The Cougars will look at the opening game as one that got away, as key defensive miscues and - errors on the basepaths led CSUSM to the team's undoing.

Tied 2-2 in the top of the eighth,

Bernard ignited the Cougar offense right off the bat with a leadoff double off the left-field wall. T. Buchanan then attempted to move him over to third, but the speedster was able to beat pitcher Elijah Thornquist's throw to first.

It looked as though the Cougars were in business with runners on the corners and nobody out, but Thornquist forced Ray Patchen to ground into a double play for the first two outs of the frame. Bernard scored on the play, but the damage could have been much worse for USF.

Addison Domingo worked a flawless first two innings on the bump for CSUSM, but USF tagged him for a pair of doubles in the top of the third and tied the game at 1-1.

Rich Montanez led off the top of the fourth inning with a ground-rule double over the right field fence. Dylan Costello followed with a grounder to Ryan Fobes at third base. Fobes looked Montanez back to second before throwing over to first to get Costello.

Montanez took off to third on the throw, but Noah Coleman's throw back across the diamond to Fobes gunned down Montanez for the double-play. Denny Vigo added a single in the inning, but the Cougars weren't able to take advantage.

Domingo was tested in the top of the fifth. He walked the leadoff hitter on four straight pitches, and after a sacrifice bunt, had a runner on second base and one out. However, Domingo forced the next two hitters to groundout to T. Buchanan at second base to get out of the jam.

Domingo gave way for reliever Aaron Alva in the sixth after five innings of work. He allowed three hits, walked two and struck out three.

USF scored the go-ahead run in its next plate appearance, putting runners on first and second on a bunt single and a two-out walk.

Alva was replaced by Matt Bataska and the big right-hander drew a ground ball deep into the 5-6 hole. Bernard attempted to backhand the ball to make a play at one of the bags, but it went off the side of his mitt and into left-field, allowing Noah Durkin to score and put USF in the lead, 2-1.

Dylan Dwyer then smoked a line drive to the right side, but Buchanan leapt to catch it above his left shoulder to get the Cougars out of the inning.

CSUSM answered back in the bottom of the sixth. Bentson came aboard with a one-out double to center. Montanez followed with a single through the right side that would have scored Bentson anyway, but the ball scooted under the glove of Jordan Jeske in right field which lead allowed Montanez to take third, still with one out and the scored tied 2-2.

Thornquist then threw a ball in the dirt that got past Dwyer behind the plate. Montanez, the CSUSM everyday catcher, attempted to take home on the wild pitch, but Dwyer flipped it back to Thornquist in time for the second out of the inning, essentially ending the threat.

Bataska was replaced by Clinton Perez when No. 9-hitter Ryan Fobes connected with a one-out triple to right center. Perez did well to escape the jam, striking out pinch-hitter Gabe Kasak before Jeremy Varner grounded out to Buchanan at second base.

Things got hairy again for the Cougar staff in the top of the eighth. After a leadoff walk to Durkin, Perez was replaced by Justin Hertzmann after falling behind 2-0 to Trevor Crow. But, Crow fired a single through the left side on Hertzmann's first delivery. Durkin was running on the play and took third.

With runners on the corner and no one down, Hertzmann attempted a pick-off throw to first, but his throw ended up in right field. Durkin scored easily and Crow took third on the two-base error.

Moments later, Coleman hit one back to the box that was too hot for Hertzmann to handle. It squirted over Bernard, who attempted a wild throw to first. It was high of Bentson at first and Crow came across to make it 4-2.

Game 2

USF took a 2-0 lead early in game one, as Trevor Crow came through with an RBI double in the first inning before a double-steal led to the second run in the third inning.

Brooks Noble connected with the Cougars' first hit of the game in the bottom half of the third, doubling into the left field corner. Noah Buchanan brought him in with a flare into left field to make it 2-1.

Bernard singled through the left side and the Cougars eventually put runners on first and second with two down after T. Buchanan beat out a double-play ball at first to keep the inning alive.

With a chance to tie or take the lead, Patchen put up a battle with USF starter Noah Coleman in his turn at the plate. He fouled off at least three pitches with the count 2-2 before Coleman delivered a wild pitch outside.

N. Buchanan tried to take home, but Dwyer was able to scramble over to it before flipping it back to Coleman covering the plate. Coleman laid down the tag and the Cougars suffered their second third-out at the dish on a wild pitch of the day.

USF added a pair of runs in the top of the fifth, as Fobes singled in Gunnar Peterson. Then, USF was granted another when Patchen dropped the ball while trying to tag out Durkin who was caught in a run-down between third and home.

The Cougars put the first two runners aboard in the top of the sixth. Bernard reached on a throwing error by the USF third baseman Fobes and T. Buchanan came aboard when Fobes couldn't jump high enough to reach his high-chopper.

After Patchen moved the runners to second and third, Bentson went the other way with Coleman's delivery, bringing home Bernard to pull the Cougars within 4-2.

Montanez popped out on his first pitch, holding T. Buchanan at third, but Vigo walked to load the bases with two down.

Noble worked the count full against Coleman before launching a line drive into left field. T. Buchanan and Brandon Bentson scored easily to tie at 4-4, but Lemmel was gunned out at third base on the play for the final out of the inning.

Durkin then tagged Alva for a homerun over the right field wall to put USF 5-4.

However, back-to-back hits by Costello and Tapia, and a throwing error from USF saw CSUSM walk off in the most unlikely fashion… again.

Costello was 2-for-3 in game two. Tapia put together an efficient series, going 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBI.

Matt Bataska (3-0) earned the victory.

CSUSM will face Concordia (Calif.) at CSUSM Baseball Field on Thursday, March 20 at 2:00 p.m. Live video streaming will be unavailable for Thursday's contest, but will resume on March 29 vs. San Diego Christian.