Dominguez Hills Grabs Share of CCAA Lead

After 12 pitching changes, 29 runs and nearly six hours of play, the Cal State Dominguez Hills baseball team grabbed a share of first place in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. by splitting a doubleheader against visiting Cal Poly San Luis Obispo on Saturday.

Left-hander Vince Aguilar, with help from reliever Leonard Fletcher, evened his record at 2-2 as the Toros won the second game, 11-2. The fourth-rated Mustangs won the opener, 13-3.

Dominguez Hills (16-13-1 overall, 9-6 in CCAA play) won the opener of the three-game series, 4-1, in 10 innings Friday. The Toros, who began play Friday a game behind first-place Cal Poly Pomona, grabbed a share of the CCAA lead because Pomona split a doubleheader against UC Riverside on Saturday.

San Luis Obispo (14-16, 8-6) dropped to third place, a half-game off the lead.

Dominguez Hills, which split a pair of games against Pomona earlier in the week, has won three of its past five CCAA games and four of six overall. The Toros are ranked 17th in the Collegiate Baseball/ESPN poll. Pomona was rated ninth.

“I’m happy about the games this weekend,” Dominguez Hills Coach George Wing said. “I would have liked to have swept Pomona, but they are a difficult club to play at its home.”

The teams will play a three-game series at San Luis Obispo on the final weekend of the regular season.

“We’re in pretty good shape,” San Luis Obispo Coach Steve McFarland said “We can’t expect to come in here and sweep these guys.”

The series offered a little of everything. On Friday the top two pitchers in the conference, Toro ace Mark Tranberg (8-1) and the Mustangs’ Dan Chergey (5-2), were locked in a 1-1 tie through nine innings. Tranberg pitched the top of the 10th without a problem, but Chergey was replaced by reliever David Lafferty.

With one out, Lafferty hit Lorenzo Reddick with a pitch and walked Miguel Medina. That set the stage for a dramatic home run by clean-up hitter Darrell Conner, who smacked a 2-2 curveball over the left-field wall.

Pitching took a bit of a break Saturday. The Mustangs had 15 hits in the opener. Dominguez Hills countered with 11 in the nightcap.

“I was surprised that so many runs were scored (on Saturday),” Wing said. “I expected a pair of three-run games similar to Friday.”

In the opener, the Mustangs scored six runs in two and a third innings against starting pitcher Armando Plascencia (4-2). Dominguez Hills scored all three of its runs in the fifth inning, thanks to four Mustang errors.

But Cal Poly rallied for two runs in the sixth and seventh, then put the game out of reach with three runs in the eighth. Dominguez Hills used four relief pitchers.

In the second game, the Toros scored six runs in the first inning. Miguel Medina capped the inning with a two-run home run to left.

Conner, who doubled in the eighth, extended his hitting streak to 14 games.