Box Score LYNN, Mass. – The No. 3-seed Cal State San Marcos baseball team fell to No. 4-seed Fisher College 3-1 in the Cougars' opening game of the Association of Independent Institutions (A.I.I.) Baseball Championship on Friday evening at Fraser Field.

The Cougars will now need to win every game from here on out in order to stay alive in the tournament. CSUSM will take on No. 1-seed Georgia Gwinnett  (45-9) on Saturday at 10:00 a.m. PT (1:00 p.m. ET). GGC topped No. 6-seed Houston-Victoria 11-1 in its opening game on Friday morning.
Victor Mendez (6-2) delivered a gem for Fisher and took a three-hit shutout into the ninth inning. He forced Brandon Bentson to ground out, but Rich Montanez and Ray Patchen knocked back-to-back singles to bring the tying run to the plate.

Mendez sat-down Denny Vigo, Mendez's 10^th strikeout of the game, but Dylan Costello legged out an infield single to load the bases.

After a trip to the mound, the Fisher head coach decided to leave Mendez in to face pinch hitter Brooks Noble and wrap up a complete game. However, Noble worked a deep count before drawing a walk that forced across a run to make it 3-1.

With the tying run 180 feet away and the bases still loaded, Mendez was replaced by John Tangherlini on the mound. CSUSM head coach Dennis Pugh called on Jon Putnam to pinch hit.

Tangherlini started Putnam off with consecutive strikes before Putnam hit a ball in front of the mound. The ball was in a bit of no man's land, but Tangherlini moved well to his right before gunning down Putnam at first to end the game.

Kevin Hilton (4-4) worked all eight innings for CSUSM, allowing just a pair of earned runs, one unearned, while striking out three and walking two.
Two errors in the first inning gifted a pair of runs for Fisher out of the gate. Victor Lebron got a free pass to third base when the throw trying to catch him stealing second went into centerfield. Lebron came home on Davidson Peguero's RBI base hit to make it 1-0.

It looked as though the Cougars would get another out when Yhonathan Santelises hit a grounder to the left side, but Ray Patchen's throw to first was off and the ball went down the foul line. Santelises was caught trying to advance to second for the second out of the frame, but the play allowed Peguero to take third.

Peguero eventually scored on a wild pitch from Hilton to Yuliano Rodriguez.

Dominic Zaher's RBi base hit in the bottom of the fifth put Fisher up 3-0.

Montanez was 2-for-4, but the top five batters in the Cougar lineup combined to go just 3-for-18 in the game.