LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – Junior Emilio Esquibel threw a one-hit complete game and senior Denny Vigo hit a two-run home run to lead No. 2-seed Cal State San Marcos to a 3-1 win over No. 5-seed West Virginia Tech in the Cougars' opening game of the Association of Independent Institutions (A.I.I.) Conference Championship on Saturday afternoon at Grizzly Baseball Complex on the campus of Georgia Gwinnett College.
 
The Cougars (33-14) will face  No. 4-seed Houston Victoria on Sunday, May 3 at 4 p.m. PST.

"We played good defense and Esquibel played great," said head coach Dennis Pugh. "They (WVU Tech) are a good team and their pitcher was solid." 
 
Esquibel's (11-1) allowed just one hit, a Xavier Barriere double in the first inning that scored Dylan Harvey who reached base on a catcher's interference call. The A.I.I. Conference Pitcher of the Year retired the next 26 of 27 he faced.
 
CSUSM knotted the game at 1-1 in the third inning. Junior L.A. Gamo hit a 1-out triple to the left center wall and scored on junior Stefan Miladinovich's single through the left side.
 
Senior Dylan Costello led off the bottom of the seventh with a single to the right field corner.  On a 0-1 count, Vigo sent the ball over the wall for his fourth home run and CSUSM's 26th of the season.
 
Junior Brandon Bentson went 2-for-4 with a double and frehsman Tyler Place notched his CSUSM single season-best eighth triple. Senior Ray Patchen moved his streak of reaching base safely to 36 games with a 1-for-4 day.
 
Also throwing a complete game, WVU Tech's Austin Southcott (6-1) took the loss after allowing three runs on eight hits over eight innings.