SAN MARCOS, Calif. – The Cal State San Marcos baseball team dropped a pair of California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) games to No. 23 Cal State Monterey Bay, 14-10 and 15-5, on Saturday afternoon at CSUSM Baseball Field.
 
The Cougars fall to 21-22 overall and 13-17 in conference action. The Otters improve to 30-14, 19-13 CCAA.
 
Senior Brandon Bentson, junior Colin Dvorak and sophomore Austin Otter each tallied three hits on the day.
 
Monterey Bay's Will Rosado went 7-for-9 with one double and scored five times. Kevin Davidson hit two of CSUMB's three home runs.
 
CSUSM was out-hit 40-to-19 in the twinbill.
 
The Cougars and the Otters will face each other in the series finale on Sunday at 11 a.m.
 
Game 1: CSUMB 14 – CSUSM 10
In the opener, the Otters got out to an 8-3 lead after six innings.
 
 CSUMB tacked on two more runs in the top of the seventh inning on three hits and one CSUSM error.
 
The Cougars offense took advantage of two Otter errors while collecting five runs on two hits in the seventh inning. Senior L.A. Gamo and sophomore Tyler Place led off with back-to-back doubles to score the first run. After sophomore Colin Dvorak was awarded first base after being hit by a pitch, both runners advanced 90 feet on a wild pitch. Bentson drew a walk to load the bases. With one out, all the runners advanced a base when senior Jon Putnam took four consecutive balls. The final three runs of the inning came on the two CSUMB errors to make it 10-8.
 
The Otters knocked in four more runs to the Cougars' two in the final two frames.
 
Senior Cameron MacKenzie (4-4) took the loss after 5 1/3 innings, giving up eight runs on 11 hits. He struck out a season-high nine batters.  CSUMB's Ryan Boydstun (5-4) matched MacKenzie's innings, relinquishing three runs on seven hits.
 
Game 2: CSUMB 15 – CSUSM 5
An eight-run third inning by the Otters proved to be CSUSM roadblock in the nightcap.
 
CSUSM's first run came off the bat of senior Clinton Perez as he launched his seventh home run of the season in the second inning to knot the game at 1-1.
 
Monterey Bay padded its lead with a pair of runs in the fourth and fifth innings to make it 13-1.
 
The Cougars scored three runs in their final at-bat, highlighted by freshman Mark Van Skike's two-out 2-RBI double that hugged the left line.
 
Senior Emilio Esquibel (2-6) had his roughest outing of the season, giving up nine runs with seven earned in 2 1/3 innings. CSUMB's Jared Koenig (3-0) collected the win after six innings of work, striking out 10 batters.