SAN MARCOS, Calif. – Senior left-hander Kyle Montiel threw five innings of three-hit scoreless baseball to lead Cal State San Marcos to a 7-0 win over San Diego Christian Wednesday afternoon at CSUSM Baseball Field.
 
The Cougars improved to 2-4, while the Hawks fell to 3-5 overall. It was CSUSM's fourth shutout against San Diego Christian in the teams' 22 meetings.
 
Montiel (1-1) struck out six and walked two in five innings, before CSUSM's bullpen took over. Cameron MacKenzie, Jordan Kunz, Emilio Esquibel and Justin Hertzmann gave up three combined hits in the final four innings. 
 
SDCC's Brian Stevenson (0-2) took the loss, allowing two runs on two hits in 1.2 innings with three walks and four strikeouts.
 
Senior Denny Vigo led the Cougar offense, going 3-for-4 with two doubles. Freshman Tyler Place and Austin Ott recorded two hits apiece.
 
For today's game, CSUSM was listed as the away team while SDCC was the home team.
 
CSUSM got things started right off the bat as junior L.A. Gamo led off with a walk and junior Stephen Miladinovich followed with a single through the left side. After advancing on a wild pitch, both runners crossed the plate on a two-out single by Ott. 
 
The Cougars scored two more runs in the third. After leading off with a single, Vigo scored on Costello's grounded out. An RBI single by Place put CSUSM up 4-0.
 
In the top of the sixth, Ott hit an RBI double to the left field and was awarded home after a throwing error by SDCC's leftfielder ended up in the Hawk dugout.
 
Ott collected another RBI in the eighth inning on a sacrifice fly that plated junior Brandon Bentson.
 
The Cougars return to the field on Thursday, Feb. 5 for an exhibition game against NCAA Division II Colorado Mesa. First pitch is slated for 2 p.m.