SAN DIEGO, Calif. – The Cal Poly Pomona baseball team's season came to a close on Saturday, losing to No. 4 ranked Point Loma in the regional finals by a score of 12-4. The Broncos entered the day needing to win two games to advance to the super regionals, but fell in the first game.
The Broncos struggled to figure out the Sea Lions this season, going 0-3 while being outscored 37-11 in those three games. Just last season, CPP defeated PLNU in the west regionals in Seaside, winning that game 5-4.
Just like Friday's game, the Sea Lions got out to a quick 3-0 lead in the first inning, this time coming from a home run by Jake Entrekin – who finished the day tying the PLNU record with eight RBI in one game. The Broncos got on the board in the top of the third inning on a double down the left field line from Johnny Pappas, scoring Nick Lugo to narrow the lead to 3-1. A Marco Malerba walk would load the bases with two outs, but Point Loma would escape the threat by forcing a flyout down the right field line.
The breaking point came in the fourth inning, when the Sea Lions surged ahead with an Entrekin grand slam to center field – his second home run of the game - extending their lead to 9-1. The Broncos managed to score three more runs over the final five innings, coming on a sac fly by Jack Sanders in the seventh and a two-run home run from AJ Nimeh in the eighth.
Starting pitcher Evan Adolphus took the loss after giving up four earned runs in 3.2 innings, finishing with a 4-3 record on the season. Rhys Stevens made his return to the mound in relief, going 3.1 innings and allowing two runs to score on two hits and striking out five. Cedrick Perez recorded two outs in the bottom of the eighth, allowing the final run of the game to come across. Senior Drew Atherton recorded the final out for CPP, needing just one pitch to force a groundout.
The Broncos close out the season with a 32-24 overall record, while making their 16th NCAA Tournament appearance in program history.
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2024 in the Record Books
- Team Runs Scored (394) - 4th all-time
- Team Home Runs (59) - 3rd all-time
- Team RBI (368) - 4th all-time
- Team Slugging % (.471) - 4th all-time
- Team Fielding % (.974) - 3rd all-time
- The team's 11 runs scored in the fifth inning against CSUSB on May 3rd is tied for the second-most in an inning in school history. It is the first time they have scored exactly 11 runs in an inning since April 21, 2017 against Cal State San Marcos.
- The team's six home runs against Sonoma State on March 15th is the second-most in a game in school history.
- Jack Sanders had a 44-game on base streak earlier this season, passing current MLB player and CPP alum Kyle Garlick for the longest streak since 2014.
- Johnny Pappas finished the season with 101 career walks, ranking fourth in program history. His 18 career home runs also ranks ninth in program history. His 159 games started ranks seventh all-time and his 133 runs scored is tied for eighth-most all-time.
- Pappas' 60 runs scored in 2024 is tied for fifth-most in a season in program history, while Sanders' 59 is tied for sixth-most in a season.
- Jack Sanders' .654 slugging percentage ranks sixth-highest in a season in program history. His 140 total bases this season ranks seventh all-time.
- Sanders' 14 home runs and 58 RBI are both tied for fourth-most in a season in program history. His six triples is tied for seventh-most in a season in school history.
- Beau Betten's 18 hit by pitches is tied for third-most in a season in program history.
- Betten's 10 sacrifice bunts ranks second-most in a season since 2001, behind only Jacob Bernardy's 17 in 2015.
Bronco Bits
- The Broncos are now 14-10 (.583) all-time against Point Loma dating back to the 1994 season. They are also 3-7 against the Sea Lions in their past 10 games. CPP's longest win streak against PLNU is 9 straight games, lasting from 2000 to 2017.
- Randy Betten finishes his 13th season as head coach with a 416-266 (.610) overall record. He became the fastest coach in program history to reach 400 wins during the 2024 season.
- CPP is now 4-13 in away games, with an all-time record of 52-34, in the NCAA Tournament. They are also 31-25 all-time in the West Regionals.
- The Broncos have never been to the Super Regionals in program history, as that playoff format was not introduced in Division II until the 2019 season.
- CPP's +104 run differential during the 2024 season is their second-best in the past decade. The only other year higher was 2022, when they were +145 on the season and scored the second-most runs in program history.
- The Broncos are 3-3 against the No. 4 ranked team in the nation the past two seasons, going 3-1 against Cal State San Bernardino last season and 0-2 against Point Loma this season.
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