Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 SAN MARCOS, Calif.—Facing a tough San Diego Christian team ranked No. 5 in the NAIA, the Cal State San Marcos baseball team fell at home 8-2 before bouncing back to win the bottom half of the doubleheader 3-0 and force a split.

In a game full of defensive miscues on both sides, the Hawks prevailed in game one thanks to five extra-base hits, including two homeruns.

Hunter Brown (4-3) was tagged with the loss, going four innings and allowing five runs on six hits, striking out four. Only one of his runs allowed was earned.

The Cougars trailed 4-0 heading into the bottom of the second, but rallied to cut the lead in half at 4-2 after a pair of errors on the Hawks allowed two runners to score.

However, that was all the scoring Cougars could scratch across against San Diego Christian's Gabe Hemmer, who pitched a complete game. CSUSM tallied eight hits and a walk off the Hawks ace.

The second game moved quickly as San Diego Christian's David Johnson and Kyle Montiel were locked in a scoreless pitching duel until the top of the fourth inning, when the Cougars were able to plate two runs.

Brandon Bentson led off the inning with a single and Ray Patchen doubled to left center field to put two runners in scoring position with no outs. Kory Smith brought in Bentson with a sacrifice fly and Jon Putnam doubled to right center with two outs to give CSUSM a 2-0 lead.

Montiel escaped a jam in the fifth inning by stranding runners on the corners by getting Hawks top hitter Cade Gotta to ground out to shortstop. Gotta had homered and doubled in the first game, and had been mostly pitched around until that point.

That was the last real threat the Hawks were able to muster, and CSUSM added an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth with Bentson's RBI single that brought home Tyler Bernard, who doubled to lead off the inning.

Montiel (4-1) finished the complete game throwing seven shutout innings, allowing just four hits and a walk, striking out five. The lefty improved his ERA to 2.31. 

With the split, CSUSM now stands at 16-14 on the season, while the Hawks are now 27-11. The Cougars are finished the regular season 2-4 against the fifth ranked Hawks, and the win in game two ended a five-game skid for the Cougars. All five losses had come from NAIA Top-10 ranked teams.

CSUSM will have most of the spring break off until resuming games Friday April 4 and Saturday April 5 for doubleheaders against University of Antelope Valley.