HAYWARD, Calif. – The Cal State San Marcos baseball team dropped both ends of Saturday's California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) twinbill at Cal State East Bay. Final scores were 7-3 and 8-4.
 
The Cougars drop to 20-20 on the season and 12-16 in conference action. The Pioneers improve to 25-14, 16-12 in CCAA play.
 
Sophomore Austin Ott went 4-for-7 with two doubles on the day. Senior Clinton Perez knocked out his sixth home run of the season.
 
The Cougars will face Cal State East Bay in the series final on Sunday at 11 a.m. 
 
Game 1: CSUEB 7 – CSUSM 3
 
Both starting pitchers, senior Cameron MacKenzie for CSUSM and CSUEB's Alex Vesia, held the batters hitless in the first three innings. East Bay changed that with two hits in the bottom of the fourth. CSUSM got its first hit in the fifth, on junior Ross Lemmel's single.
 
The Pioneers scored four runs in the bottom of the fifth, highlighted by Rudy Navarro's three-run homer.
 
CSUSM got on the board in the sixth inning, scoring three runs on two hits. With one out, sophomore Tyler Place got hit by a pitch and Perez drew a walk. Senior Brandon Bentson singled through the right side to score Place and Perez followed him on senior Jon Putnam's ground out. CSUSM's final run came on senior L.A. Gamo's RBI single up the middle.
 
East Bay put the game out of reach with an additional three runs in next half frame. Chris Porter drove in one run before Marcus Wise crushed a 2-RBI double to right center.
 
MacKenzie (4-3) took the loss after going 4 1/3 innings, giving up three earned runs while fanning five batters. Vesia collected the win after 5 2/3 innings of work, also relinquishing three runs and walking five.
 
Game 2: CSUEB 8 – CSUSM 4
The Pioneers registered a pair of runs in both the first and second innings.
 
Lemmel led off the third with a single down the right line. With two outs, Perez's two-run homer was a first-pitch no-doubter when he swung the bat, depositing the ball into the trees in left field.
 
East Bay added another run in the third inning and three more in the sixth.
 
CSUSM put together a rally in the top of the ninth, scoring two more runs on three hits and an East Bay error. Ott hit a leadoff double to right field and junior Hudson Bilodeau reached on a fielder's choice to put runners on the corners. After Ott scored on an error, freshman Domenic Antonacci hit an RBI single to shortstop.
 
CSUSM starter Emilio Esquibel (2-5) took the loss after giving up five runs – four unearned – on seven hits in 2 1/3 innings of work. Nick Sergi (3-1) picked up the win following a six-inning, two run performance on the mound.