SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – The CSUSB baseball team defeated Sonoma State in the series opener on Friday afternoon, improving to 21-7 on the season and 12-6 in CCAA play. The No. 5 Yotes currently sit in second place in the CCAA standings with a .667 conference win percentage, trailing only Cal State Monterey Bay who is 16-4 (.800) and on an eight-game winning streak.
 
CSUSB's starting pitcher Luke Hempel was masterful on the mound, not allowing a hit until a solo home run in the fifth inning. Hempel finished his outing with just that one run allowed, striking out four in 7.0 innings on 96 pitches. That is the third time the Glendale native has reached the seven-inning mark in an outing this season, while he leads the Yotes with 43.2 innings pitched on the season. With his strong performance, Hempel picked up the win to improve to 5-1 on the season.
 
Despite Hempel's impressive performance on the mound, the story of the game was the return of the Yotes' hot bats. Against Cal Poly Pomona last weekend, CSUSB only scored seven runs across four games with zero home runs, very uncharacteristic of the CCAA's best offense. On Friday afternoon against Sonoma, the Yotes plated 16 runs on 15 hits – more than double the amount of runs they scored in the entire CPP series.
 
CSUSB certainly looked comfortable back on their home turf at Fiscalini Field, collecting double-digit hits for the 13^th time this season while hitting at least one home run for the 22^nd time in 28 games this year. Yes, that means the Yotes only have six games where they did not hit a home run, all six of which came on the road at Stanislaus State or Cal Poly Pomona.
 
Ten different Yotes collected at least one hit in the game, while DeShawn Johnson, Garrett Macias, Jake Borst, and Jason Shedlock each collecting at least two. Johnson and Borst each went deep while six batters hit a double. Shedlock's three-hit performance led the team, improving his batting average to .351 on the season.
 
 
Up Next
The Yotes will play the Seawolves in a doubleheader tomorrow, April 1^st, with first pitch set for 12:00 PM. This Sunday, April 2^nd, will be the Light It Up Blue game, intended to call awareness to those on the autism spectrum in recognition of World Autism Awareness Day. Admission if FREE, so bring your friends and family to Fiscalini Field. You can also catch the action on the CCAA Network at ccaanetwork.com.

To see the full CSUSB baseball schedule, click HERE.
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