SAN MARCOS, Calif. – The No. 12 ranked Cal State Monterey Bay baseball team split its doubleheader with Cal State San Marcos Friday afternoon at Dennis A. Pugh Field. The Otters erupted for a 22-11 victory in the first game and then fell in game two, 8-6.
 
Game One
 
CSUMB overwhelmed CSUSM with a dominant, 22-11, offensive explosion in the first game of the series opening doubleheader.
 
The double-digit run performance was the 15^th of the season and the second time CSUMB had plated 20-or-more runs.
 
Monterey Bay established control immediately, erupting for four runs in the opening inning. James Starkus singled up the middle to score Bobby Benavidez, Jason Del Villar followed with an RBI single to right field, and Andrew Lehmann doubled down the left field line to drive in Starkus. Conner Smith capped the rally with a sacrifice fly that scored Del Villar, giving the Otters a commanding 4-0 advantage.
 
San Marcos responded with two runs in the second inning on Jake Larson's sacrifice fly and Canon King's RBI walk, then pulled within 4-3 when Zech Samayoa launched a solo home run to left field in the third.
 
The Otters answered in the fourth with three runs, highlighted by Xander Sielken's two-run single up the middle that extended the lead to 7-3.
 
The decisive blow came in the fifth inning when the Otters exploded for six runs to break the game open. Nick Maestas drove in a run with a sacrifice fly, Benavidez doubled to left-center for two RBIs, and Del Villar crushed a two-run home run to left field, pushing the advantage to 13-3.
 
The Otters continued their assault in the sixth inning with three more runs. Maestas launched a two-run home run to right field for his first on the year, and Benavidez followed immediately with a solo shot to right, extending the lead to 16-4.
 
Both teams traded runs over the final two innings. Monterey Bay added three in the eighth on Sielken's two-run double to right field, while San Marcos scored three of their own. The Otters closed with three more runs in the ninth, including Maestas's RBI single and an unearned run when Benavidez reached on an error.
 
Maestas led the offensive onslaught with three hits, five RBIs, and a home run while also stealing a base. Benavidez contributed three hits, three RBIs, a home run, and four runs scored. Sielken finished with two hits and four RBIs, while Del Villar added two hits, three RBIs, and a home run. Noah Zertuche scored four times for the Otters.
 
Drew Aguiar (3-1) earned the victory, allowing six hits and four earned runs over five innings while striking out two batters.
 
Game Two
 
Cal State San Marcos held off a seventh-inning comeback attempt by Cal State Monterey Bay to secure an 8-6 victory in the second game of the doubleheader.
 
A combination of wild pitches, fielding errors, and timely hitting produced a devastating seven-run explosion that built an insurmountable 7-0 advantage.
 
The Otters responded with two runs in the third inning when Xander Sielken singled through the right side to score Nick Maestas, and James Starkus reached on a throwing error that allowed Sielken to score, cutting the deficit to 7-2. Jason Del Villar added an RBI single to second base in the fifth inning to score Bobby Benavidez, narrowing the gap to 7-3.
 
CSUMB tried to climb back in the seventh inning when they mounted a three-run rally. Del Villar launched a two-run home run to left-center field to score Starkus, and Noah Zertuche followed with an RBI double to right field that scored Kyle Olimpia, making it 8-6.
 
The two teams will meet tomorrow for another doubleheader with game one scheduled for 11 a.m.