CARSON, Calif. – Taking the series lead with a doubleheader sweep, the Cal State San Marcos baseball team (22-8, 9-6 CCAA) won by scores of 5-1 and 7-5 against Cal State Dominguez Hills (14-18, 6-13 CCAA) on Friday at Toro Field.
 
GAME 1: CSUSM 5 – CSUDH 1
 
TOP PERFORMERS
Canon King – 2-for-4 | 1 RBI | 1 R | 1 BB
Stephen Espinoza – 1-for-4 | 1 RBI | 1 R | 1 HR | 1 BB
Zech Samayoa – 1-for-4 | 1 RBI | 1 R | 1 HR
Michael Weber – 1-for-2 | 1 RBI | 1 BB | 1 SF
Ben Pernetti – 6.0 IP | 5 K | 1 ER | 4 H | 1 BB | 1 HBP
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Scoreless heading into the bottom of the third inning, Canon King changed that with an RBI single down the left field line to score Jake Adams, who got on base with a two-out double.
• The Toros evened the game in the bottom of the seventh with a solo shot to left center by Quinn Johnson to make it 1-1.
• Back-to-back homers by Stephen Espinoza and Zech Samayoa before a sacrifice fly by Michael Weber put CSUSM back out front 4-1 in the top of the eighth.
• After King walked and advanced to second on a wild pitch, he scored on CSUDH error to give CSUSM a 5-1 lead in the top of the ninth.

 
QUICK HITS

• CSUSM reliever Dylan Schmitt (2-0) earned the win as he allowed just two walks in an inning of action.
• CSUDH starter Blake Logan (0-1) took the loss after surrendering three earned runs on three hits in two-thirds of an inning.
• Cougar reliever Trevor Morgan picked up his third save of the year, allowing two hits in 1.2 innings.
• King improved his team-best reached-base and hitting streaks to 17 and 13 games, respectively.
• Samayoa launched his team-leading 11th homer of the season while Espinoza delivered his second. Samayoa is now tied for the eighth-most single-season homers in program history.
• Leighton Helfrick swiped two bags for the game, bringing his season total to five.

 
GAME 2: CSUSM 7 - CSUDH 5 (7 INN.)
 
TOP PERFORMERS
Canon King – 3-for-4 | 2 R | 1 RBI | 1 HR | 1 2B
Jacob Embleton – 2-for-2 | 2 RBI | 2 R | 1 HR
Zech Samayoa – 2-for-4 | 1 RBI | 1 R | 1 2B
Max Shor – 2-for-4 | 1 RBI
Victor Castaneda – 2-for-2 | 1 SB
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• An RBI single down the right field line by Julio Camarena put the Toros up 1-0 in the bottom of the second inning.
• The Cougars matched the Toros in the top of the third with an RBI single to right by Zech Samayoa to knot the game at 1-all.
• CSUSM took its first lead of the contest in the top of the fifth at 3-1 on a solo homer from Canon King and an RBI single down the right field line by Stephen Espinoza.
• CSUDH took the lead at 4-3 in the bottom of the fifth on a two-run single by Alex Sepulveda and an RBI single by Jarrett Segura.
• An RBI single to left center by Max Shor tied the game at 4-4 in the top of the sixth.
• The Cougars went ahead 7-4 in the top of the seventh as Leighton Helfrick scored on a throwing error before a two-run homer down the right field line by Jacob Embleton.
• The Toros were only able to muster one final run in the bottom of the seventh on a solo shot from Quinn Johnson.

 
QUICK HITS

• CSUSM reliever Zach Romero (4-1) earned the win after striking out three while allowing an earned run on three hits and a walk in 2.1 innings.
• CSUDH reliever Julian Castro (2-1) took the loss after giving up four runs (three earned) on eight hits in 2.1 innings.
• King improved his team-best reached-base and hitting streaks to 18 and 14 games, respectively, while notching his ninth homer and ninth multi-RBI game of the year.
• Embleton's homer was his fourth of the season.
• Samayoa earned his team-leading 10th multi-hit game of the year.
• The Cougars moved into a tie for second in the CCAA standings with Cal State Monterey Bay and sit one game behind first-place Cal Poly Pomona.

 
UP NEXT
CSUSM will go for the series win on Saturday with the first pitch against CSUDH set for noon at Toro Field.