IRVINE, Calif. – The Cal State San Marcos baseball team (2-2) set its bats ablaze on Tuesday night as it recorded 18 hits in the team’s 15-3 win over Concordia University Irvine (6-3-1) at Eagles Field. Due to a light curfew, the game was called after 7.5 innings.
TOP PERFORMERS
Kevin Van Linge – 5-for-5 | 2 RBIs | 2 R | 1 2B | 1 SB
Niko Diaz – 3-for-5 | 3 RBIs | 2 R
Pat MacDonald Jr. – 2-for-4 | 3 RBIs | 2 R | 2 BB | 1 2B
Ethan Rivera – 3-for-5 | 2 RBIs | 1 R
Demetrius Freeman – 2-for-5 | 2 R | 1 RBI | 1 SB
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Cougars went up 5-0 in the top of the first inning on five hits, two Eagle errors and a walk. CSUSM had a 4-0 lead with no outs thanks to RBI singles by Van Linge and Mark Stanford before MacDonald drove in two runs with a single to center. MacDonald then scored on a sacrifice by Aiden Richert to give the Cougars a five-run lead.
CSUSM kept the momentum going in the top of the second inning. With the bases juiced and no outs, Rivera drove in a couple of runs with a base hit to center and put CSUSM up 7-0.
In the top of the fifth, Freeman delivered a one-out RBI single to left and scored Richert from second to give the Cougars an 8-0 lead. Soon after, a lightning delay halted the game for an hour and 15 minutes. Out of the delay, CSUSM quickly scored on an RBI single by Diaz to score Freeman. Diaz later scored on a wild pitch to make it a 10-0 game.
The Eagles broke up the shutout in the bottom of the fifth. Tristan Hanoian was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded before a fielder’s choice led to an error and two more runs crossing the plate to cut CSUSM’s lead to 10-3.
The top of the sixth saw Griffin Teisher drive in a run on a sacrifice fly to left that scored MacDonald from third. A two-run single down the left field line by Diaz with one out put the Cougars up 13-3. With two outs, Van Linge hit an RBI single to left center before a bases-loaded walk by MacDonald put CSUSM out front 15-3.
QUICK HITS
Tommy Garcia (1-1) earned the win for CSUSM after tossing two flawless innings of relief with one strikeout on 24 pitches.
CUI’s Jamison King (0-1) took the loss as he gave up seven runs on eight hits and two walks in two innings.
With his 5-for-5 game, Van Linge became just the 12th Cougar in program history to record five hits in a single game. The feat was last accomplished by Cabot Van Til on April 19, 2019, against Cal State San Bernardino.
Diaz has tallied a hit in all four games this season, and it was his third game with at least three RBIs.
CSUSM’s last game with at least 15 runs came in a 16-5 win at Chico State on April 5, 2019. It was also the last time the Cougars recorded at least 18 hits in a game as they ended up with 20.
This was CSUSM’s largest margin of victory since defeating Cal State East Bay by an 18-2 margin on Feb. 16, 2019.
UP NEXT
CSUSM will return to San Marcos to begin a four-game series against Colorado School of Mines (8-0) on Friday at 1 p.m.
