Broncos Explode for 21 Runs in San Bernardino
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – The Broncos split Friday's doubleheader against Cal State San Bernardino, moving to 29-19 on the season and 25-14 in CCAA play. With the two losses in the series, the Broncos are no longer able to pass Cal State San Marcos in the standings, taking them out of contention for the CCAA regular season title.
Game 1: CPP 21, CSUSB 5
The Broncos put on one of the more memorable displays of offensive dominance in game one of the doubleheader, scoring 21 runs on 18 hits. This included an 11-run fifth inning, where they scored ALL 11 runs with ZERO outs. The Green & Gold hit five home runs – their third-most in a game in school history - coming off the bats of Johnny Pappas, Jack Sanders, Darius Price, Nick Lugo, and Brent Cota. Pappas now has 16 in his career, ranking 11th in program history, while Lugo hit his first of the season. The team also hit six doubles, with Price collecting two.
Edrian Rangel made a spot start for the Broncos, going 4.0 innings while allowing just one hit and one run. The junior from Pomona struck out five batters on 63 pitches in his third start of the year. Freshman Anthony Vasquez threw two innings out of the pen, picking up his second win of the season.
Game 2: CPP 2, CSUSB 1
Noel Soto delivered five brilliant innings of work in the nightcap, allowing just one hit in his first five frames.
The Broncos took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning on a Marco Malerba RBI single to right field to score Sanders. CPP added on in the fifth with a solo home run from Brent Cota, his second of the day and eighth of the season.
In the sixth, Soto ran into some trouble - allowing two runs to score to even the game at 2-2, bringing in closer Chris Fields. After escaping the jam, the Broncos promptly responded in the top of the seventh when Pappas pushed across Cota on an error by the shortstop, making the score 3-2 once again in favor of the Broncos. The Coyotes then came back in the bottom of the inning, scoring two runs on one hit to walk off by a final score of 4-3 and take the series lead.
Jack Sanders' historic on-base streak ended at 44 games in the second game of the doubleheader. Though he reached first base on a fielder's choice in the top of the third inning, a fielder's choice or an error does not contribute toward extending the streak. He had safely reached base in every single contest since game two of opening day against Azusa Pacific.
Playoff Picture
The Broncos are no longer able to pass Cal State San Marcos in the CCAA standings, taking them out of contention for the CCAA regular season title. They could still finish in second place and earn a bye in the CCAA Tournament, however, that would require Cal State Monterey Bay to lose their final two games of the series AND for CPP to win on Saturday. If the Otters collect a win later tonight or tomorrow, the Broncos will be locked into the number three seed for the upcoming tournament and have to play the opening round on Wednesday, May 8th.
Up Next
The Broncos and Yotes will conclude both their series and the regular season tomorrow, May 4th, at 1:00 PM. Cal State San Bernardino will honor their seniors with a ceremony before the game.
Bronco Bits
- The Broncos are 86-77 (.528) all-time against Cal State San Bernardino, including 5-5 in their past 10 games.
- Randy Betten is now 413-261 (.613) as head coach of the Broncos. He is 29 CCAA wins away from passing John Scolinos for most conference games won in CPP history. Betten is now 296-191 (.608) in CCAA games, while Scolinos was 324-256-3 (.558) in conference competition.
- With just one more win, the Broncos will pass last season's win total of 29.
- Johnny Pappas moved up to fifth all-time in career walks on Thursday, now with 98 in his career. With three more, he will pass both Jenzen Torres (2009-12) and Tom Weeks (1984-87) at 100 for fourth place on the all-time list.
- The win in game one on Friday was assistant coach Kevin Bowler's 200th as a member of the CPP coaching staff. Bowler joined the program for the 2017 season.
Latest Men's Baseball
- Do or Die, Baseball’s Season Comes Down to SaturdayThe Broncos struggled to get the bats going on Friday, losing to No. 4 ranked Point Loma by a score of 8-3 in the NCAA West Regionals in San Diego. With the loss, the Broncos fall to 32-23 on the season and now face elimination on Saturday.
- Broncos Collect 22 Hits in Regional Win Over CougarsThe Cal Poly Pomona baseball team won their opening game of the 2024 NCAA Tournament on Thursday, defeating Cal State San Marcos by a score of 13-5. Their 22 hits in the win is tied for their most in a game since 2017, when they collected 28 hits – which was also against Cal State San Marcos.
- Four Broncos Earn All-West Region HonorsFour Cal Poly Pomona baseball student-athletes earned All-West Region First Team honors on Wednesday morning, including Johnny Pappas, Caleb Reyes, Rhys Stevens, and Jack Sanders.
- CCAA Joins FloSports in Historic Media Rights AgreementFloSports, a leading global sports media company, and the CCAA, the most successful NCAA Division II conference with 156 National Championships, have entered into an exclusive multi-year, seven-figure media rights agreement to begin this Fall.
- Baseball Headed to NCAA Tournament for 16th Time in Program HistoryFor the 16th time in program history, and the eighth time in the past nine seasons, the Cal Poly Pomona baseball team will compete in the NCAA Tournament. With a 31-22 overall record, the Broncos secured the No. 4 seed in the west region, sending them to San Diego for the second time in three seasons.
- Broncos' CCAA Tournament Run Ends in SemifinalsThe Broncos lost two games on Friday, ending their 2024 CCAA Tournament title aspirations. Both games finished with a final score of 5-4, as both Cal State Monterey Bay and San Francisco State will now face each other in the championship game on Saturday.
