CARSON – Esteban Ortega delivered his first career walkoff home run in game one as the Cal State Dominguez Hills baseball team split the doubleheader with Cal State East Bay at Toro Field Saturday. Ortega's seventh homer of the year lifted the Toros to an 9-8 win in the ninth while the Pioneers cruised on ace left-hander Alex Vesia in a 7-0 nightcap win.
 
The two ballclubs will wrap the four-game California Collegiate Athletic Association series Sunday at noon.
 
Game 1 – CSUDH 9, CSUEB 8
It was a rough day on the defensive side for both teams. Six of the 17 combined runs were earned.
 
Dominguez Hills quickly got itself into a 5-0 hole in the first inning. Four of those runs came in unearned after a fielding error allowed the inning to continue.
 
Ray Diaz made it through five innings giving up one earned run on seven hits and three walks while striking out four on 100 pitches. The Pioneers had a short leash on a starter for the second consecutive game as Donavon Ramirez threw on shutout inning before turning it over to the bullpen.
 
The Toros did get themselves back into the game in the second and third innings. Jesus Sanchez forced in the first run in the second on a bases-loaded walk. The next frame, Ortega led off with a double down the left field line, took third on the wild pitch and scored on Kevin Lugo's base hit through the right side.
 
The Pioneers lead was erased in the fourth. With two down, Evan Yeager got the rally going with a double to right center and scored on Sanchez's single. Kai Gomez kept the inning going with a base hit and Ortega reached on an error to put two runners and allowed Sanchez to score. The biggest damage came from the bat of Dalton Duarte, who crushed a pitch to left field for a three-run home run and give the Toros a 7-5 lead.
 
Another run came across for the Toros in the fifth. Stephen Kish led off with a single and scored the eighth run on another defensive mistake by the Pioneers.  
 
The Toros defensive couldn't hold on to the three-run lead as the Pioneers scored one in the sixth and two in the eighth to tie the game 8-8.
 
It didn't take long as Ortega hit a 2-2 pitch to left field for the walkoff off reliever RJ Hanson.
 
Game 2 – CSUEB 7, CSUDH 0
Nick Suniga didn't quite repeat his complete-game performance at Cal State Monterey Bay last weekend, going five innings allowing five runs, three earned, on seven hits and a walk.
 
All the damage was done in the second inning, when the Pioneers capitalized on two errors to score three runs. They eventually added two more in the third and sixth innings.
 
On the other side, the Toros struggled against the southpaw Vesia, who made it through six innings striking out a dozen and allowing three hits, two from Justin Morris. Morris even doubled in the fifth inning to send Jordan James to third with one out, but the Toros couldn't drive them in.