SAN MARCOS, Calif. – The Cal State San Marcos baseball team collected a twinbill sweep over La Sierra, 9-0 and 19-1, on Friday afternoon at CSUSM Baseball Field.
The Cougars tallied 27 hits that included three doubles and a home run on the day.
Sophomore
Tyler Place went 6-for-7 with a double while driving in three runs and scoring seven times. Senior
Clinton Perez crushed CSUSM's first home run of 2016 while going 4-for-5 with four runs and four RBIs. Senior
Jon Putnam also had an outstanding day at the plate, going 5-for-7.
Senior
Cameron MacKenzie and junior
Taylor Ahearn each picked up wins to improve their records to 1-0. The CSUSM bullpen did not relinquish an earned run in 16 innings.
The Cougars embark on their first road trip of the season on Tuesday, Feb. 9 when they travel to Biola. First pitch is slated at 2 p.m.
Game 1: CSUSM 9 – La Sierra 0The Cougars got things rolling in the bottom of the second when junior
Colin Dvorak connected on a sacrifice fly to score Perez who reached on a one-out single.
CSUSM tagged four runs on five hits in the next frame before registering a run in both the fifth and seventh innings.
The Cougars knocked in two more runs in the eighth, highlighted by Place's double.
CSUSM scored four of their nine runs on sacrifice flies.
Ahearn recorded nine strikeouts and allowed only three hits in his 6 1/3 innings of work. The bullpen of
Jordan Kunz,
Marc Vela and
Brady Smith gave up just two hits.
Game 2: CSUSM 19 – La Sierra 1 Once again, the Cougars wasted no time getting on the board by putting up a run in the first frame. Putnam's single up the middle drove in Place who laid down a perfect bunt down the first base line to reach first.
Perez homered over the left field wall to lead off the second inning. The Cougars recorded six more runs in the second frame, taking advantage of three LSU errors while knocking out six hits to make it 8-1.
After CSUSM added another run in the third, La Sierra scored its only run of the day in its next at-bat. The run was ruled unearned due to catchers interference.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Cougars busted open the game with 10 runs on only three hits. CSUSM capitalized on three Golden Eagle errors and five walks.
MacKenzie turned in a solid start, allowing three hits and striking out five batters.
