Cal Poly Pomona Wins Showdown Against Dominguez Hills

The Cal State Dominguez Hills baseball team lost a doubleheader to Cal Poly Pomona on Saturday and fell into second place in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn.

Dominguez Hills, which earlier in the season lost a game at Pomona in the late innings, trailed throughout most of the afternoon and lost, 7-6, 3-2, at Scolinos Field in Pomona. The teams entered the three-game series tied for first place in the CCAA.

“We keep telling our players that you can’t go into the late innings being even on the road,” Toro Coach George Wing said. “It haunted us in the first game against them here (earlier this month) and it haunted us again today.”

Fifth-ranked Dominguez Hills (23-16-1 overall, 12-9 in CCAA play) won Friday’s series opener, 11-4, at Carson.

Pitcher Mark Tranberg (10-1) earned the decision on Friday. Tranberg, who allowed three runs in the first inning, overcame early wildness to become the first Division II pitcher to win 10 games.

On Saturday, ninth-ranked Pomona (22-22, 13-8) improved its home record to 17-5. In the first game, Pomona grabbed a 6-2 lead thanks in part to three Toro errors. The Broncos scored a run in the fourth, two in the fifth and sixth and another in the seventh. Toro starter Vince Aguilar, who pitched a perfect game last week against Chapman, was relieved in the sixth inning trailing, 5-1.

The Toros rallied to tie the score in the ninth on a two-out, two-run single by first baseman Darrell Conner.

But in the bottom of the inning, Pomona’s Ed Morgan tripled to score Shannon Wright. Junior reliever Tom Hurst, who walked Wright with one out, (1-1) took the loss.

Dominguez Hills scored early in the second game, as Conner and catcher Steve Whipple drove in runs with singles.

Starting Toro pitcher Armando Plascencia (4-4) allowed only four hits, but he was called for a balk when he dropped the ball during a delivery to the plate in the third. That mistake allowed Pomona to score its first run. The Broncos’ Chris Hunt then smacked a run-scoring double to tie the score.

Another Dominguez Hills error put Pomona ahead in the sixth. Leadoff hitter Scott Daniels walked, stole second and advanced to third on a fly ball to left. Pinch hitter Yani Aghila hit a ground ball to shortstop, but freshman Cory Lintern threw the ball away.

“What we need to see now is if these guys can regain their composure going into next week’s games at UC Riverside,” Wing said. “I think this is the kind of team that can do that.”

The Toros have nine conference games left, but six of them are on the road.