CHICO, Calif. – The Yotes first CCAA Championship Tournament opponent was also their last CCAA regular season opponent, Sonoma State. CSUSB topped the Seawolves, 5-4, in Chico to advance to the second round of the tournament for the first time since 2002.
The lead pitcher for the Yotes was
Raul Salazar who pitched five innings for 111 pitches collecting seven strikeouts. In a rarity for CSUSB this season, the Yotes did not hit a single home run. CSUSB did connect on 11 hits, five RBIs, and four doubles.
The game was a team effort at the plate with
Garrett Macias,
Jake Borst,
Kyle Csakan, and Gio Del Negro all collected two hits on the game. The Yotes were up by one at the bottom of the ninth when
Oscar Rauda hit the mound. With three outs for the win, Rauda struck out the first two batters and the last out was grounded out to short stop for the win, 5-4.
"I love this team" said coach
Mike Nadeau. "They have so much fight in them. They never gave up. Raul was great on the mound again keeping us in the game. This was all heart from these men. Let's keep it rolling."
CSUSB moves on to the second round of the CCAA Championship Tournament hosted by Chico State. They will take on the Cal Poly Pomona Broncos tomorrow at 3 p.m. All games will be streamed on ccaanetwork.com.
