POMONA, Calif. — Host Cal Poly Pomona poured it on in the middle innings and a late rally by the Cal State Monterey Bay reserves wasn't enough to stop Pomona from taking a 10–5 victory in Game 1 of a 4–game series Friday afternoon at Scolinos Field.
Pomona broke the seal in the bottom of the first inning on a 2–run Cesar Lopez homer. The Otters got one back on an RBI double by
TJ Dove (Yuba CC) in the third. But Pomona scored eight times between the fourth and sixth innings to put the game on ice.
Tyson Quolos (Oxnard College) allowed just one hit over two innings of shutout relief to silence the Bronco offense. An RBI double by pinch hitter
Reed Oster (Napa HS) and a 2–run single by
Connor Caspersen (Pleasanton/Mission College) helped the Otters pull a pair of runs back in each of the final two innings, but that's where the rally ended.
Dove finished the day 3–for–3 with a double to run his hitting streak to nine games and his reached base streak to 35 games. Caspersen,
Jakob Davidson (Pleasanton/USF) and
Jordan Esposo (Marina/MPC) all came off the bench to deliver two hits in the 14–hit Otter attack.
THE GAME WAS OVER WHEN OVER WHEN… Bryce Graddy scored on a wild pitch to make it 7–1 Pomona in the fifth inning. The lead was never threatened and eventually grew to 10–1.
HE KEEPS ON ROLLING… TJ Dove kept his school record streak of reaching base safely alive with a first–inning single Friday at Cal Poly Pomona. He has reached in 35 consecutive games, or, to put it another way, in every game of his Otter career. The single ran his hitting streak to a personal season–high nine games
THEY'LL DO IN A PINCH… The lopsided score allowed head Coach
Walt White to get his reserves some playing time, and they came through in a pinch, as it were. Otter pinch hitters went 3–for–5 and finished the day 7–for–10 with two runs and three RBI.
Connor Caspersen,
Jordan Esposo and
Jakob Davidson all went 2–for–2 coming off the bench Friday.
LEADERS OF THE RAFT… TJ Dove (3x3, 2B, RBI);
Reed Oster (1x2, 2B, R, RBI);
Darren Kriz (1x3, 2B);
Connor Caspersen (2x2, 2 RBI);
Hayden Duer (2x4, R, RBI).
THEY'VE GOT NEXT… The Otters continue their 4–game set at Cal Poly Pomona with a doubleheader against the Broncos starting Saturday at 1 p.m.
GO OTTERS!
