CARSON – The Cal State Dominguez Hills baseball team got an early lead from Dalton Duarte and Esteban Ortega as they each homered in the first two innings en route to the Toros' 8-2 victory over San Francisco State Saturday, salvaging a win in the four-game California Collegiate Athletic Association series.
 
The offense came in and backed pitching. Starter Ray Diaz struck out six but allowed two base hits and nine walks, Joe Mercado started off a little shaky in the fifth inning but limited the Gators to one run in his two innings of work, and Jacob Musial went the rest of the way tossing a two-hit shutout for his first save of the year.
 
San Francisco struck in the game opener without using a hit, scoring the first run on a wild pitch and the second on a bases-loaded walk. The Toros returned the favor on the first chance they got against Jeff Piver. Jordan James won a free pass and Ortega singling through the left side to setup for Duarte's three-run smash to center.
 
Eduardo Frayre-Cerda opened the second inning with a double, reached third on Kai Gomez's single and scored on Jordan James' groundout. Ortega, on the first pitch he saw, took Piver deep to left center to give Dominguez Hills a 6-2 lead.
 
Dominguez Hills got two more runs in the middle innings. Starting with the fourth, Gomez and James had back-to-back singles and following a wild pitch Ortega hit a sacrifice fly to earn his third RBI. The next inning was in identical fashion, Kevin Lugo led off with a bloop single to right, took second on a wild pitch, third on a ground out and sprinted home on Frayre-Cerda's sac fly to left.
 
Gomez's three singles were part of the Toros' 11-hit afternoon. The Gators were held to a series-low six hits.
 
It's back on the road for the Toros as they pay a visit to Cal State Monterey beginning Friday at 3 p.m.