SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – Earning its sixth win in its last seven games, the Cal State San Marcos baseball team clinched a share of its four-game California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) series against Cal State San Bernardino as it posted a 14-6 victory on Friday afternoon at Fiscalini Field.
 
TOP PERFORMERS
Austin Ott – 3-for-6 | 5 RBIs | 3 R | 2 HRs | 1 2B
Cabot Van Til – 5-for-6 | 3 R | 2 RBIs
Andrew Garcia – 2-for-4 | 2 RBIs | 1 R | 1 BB
Joseph Bahna – 2-for-5 | 2 RBIs | 2 2B | 1 R
Jake Rico – 1-for-4 | 2 R | 1 HR | 1 RBI | 1 BB | 1 SB
Mike Lopez – 6 IP | 4 K | 3 R | 2 ER | 2 BB
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Cougars got off to a solid start as Ott hit a two-run homer to left center in the first inning.
• Bahna scored on a CSUSB infield error in the second inning to put CSUSM up 3-0.
• CSUSM pulled off the rare triple play in the bottom of the fourth inning on a pop-up bunt to Lopez. Lopez then fired the ball to Anthony Rodriguez at second before tossing it over to Grant Buck at first to complete the 1-6-3 triple play.
• After Van Til put the Cougars up 4-0 with an RBI single up the middle in the top of the fifth, the Coyotes finally plated a run on CSUSM 6-4-3 double play.
• Bahna hit a two-run double to left center and put the Cougars ahead 6-1 in the sixth.
• The bottom of the sixth saw CSUSB's Porthan hit a two-run jack to left center and cut the deficit in half to 6-3.
• Ott posted his second home run of the game in the top of the seventh inning as he hit a three-run blast to left center and put the Cougars up 9-3.
• The Coyotes narrowed the gap once again in the bottom of the seventh on back-to-back bases-loaded walks.
• CSUSM went up 12-5 with a solo homer by Rico and a two-run single through the left side by Garcia in the top of the eighth.
• CSUSB cut CSUSM's lead to 12-6 in the bottom of the eighth on an RBI fielder's choice by Rodriguez.
• The Cougars plated the final two runs of the game in the top of the ninth inning on an RBI groundout by Griffin Teisher and an RBI single by Van Til.

 
QUICK HITS

• CSUSM improved to 21-23 (17-21 CCAA) while CSUSB dropped to 13-29 (10-27 CCAA).
• Lopez (5-2) earned the win for the Cougars as he struck out four while allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits and two walks in six innings of action.
• CSUSB starter Alan Vasquez (0-3) took the loss as he allowed six runs (five earned) on eight hits and a walk while striking out six in six innings.
• Van Til tied the CSUSM school record for most hits in a game with five and became the 11th Cougar to do so. His five hits were the most by a Cougar in a single game since Tyler Place did the same in 2016 against San Francisco State.
• Van Til's 77 hits for the season rank fourth in program history, and he's just 16 away from the single-season record.
• Van Til also notched his 30th multi-hit game of the season – tying Stefan Miladinovich (2015) for the single-season record.
• Garcia upped his team-leading hitting streak to 16 games.
• Ott and Buck are now tied for the ninth-most RBIs in a single season at 45 and are 11 away from the school record.
• Buck now has a 21-game reached-base streak – tied for the third-longest this season.
• CSUSM became just one of seven schools in Division II this season to record a triple play. This was the Cougars' second triple play in program history as the first occurred in 2009.
• The Cougars have put together at least 10 hits in their last seven games – their longest streak of the season.

 
UP NEXT
The Cougars and Coyotes will now head to San Marcos to finish up the series with a doubleheader set for noon on Saturday at CSUSM Baseball Field.