CARSON -- One day after suffering a one-run loss at the hands of visiting San Francisco State, the Cal State Dominguez Hills baseball team returned the favor, and then some, after taking 5-4 and 9-8 wins over the Gators on Saturday at Toro Field.

CSUDH improves to 7-6 overall and 2-1 in conference play as a Pierson Loska solo shot late in the nightcap gave the Toros the sweep.

The Toros struck first in the opener, scoring thrice in the 2nd inning after loading the bases with one out.  A wild pitch plated the first two runs of the game, followed by a Caleb Ellis groundout for a 3-0 lead.

After the Gators answered with two runs of their own in the 3rd, CSUDH answered right back with two.  After singles by Scott Ogrin and Loska to start the inning, a wild pitch moved the runners up before Emilio Barrera singled up the middle for a run.  Grant Decatrel then reached on an error to give the Toros a 5-2 lead.

Reliever Donovan Waitman, who picked up his first save of the season, showed his mettle in his 2.0 innings of work.  In the 8th with the Toros holding that 5-2 lead and a Gator on first base, K Gardner roped a double down the right field line and into the corner.  Waitman alertly backed up the throw from right field as the throw sailed over the catcher's head, keeping SFSU's runners on second and third.

That heads up play set the stage for the next batter, who lined a comebacker into Waitman's glove, starting a double play after Waitman tossed the ball to third base to double the runner off and end the frame.

Waitman got into a jam in the 9th inning after allowing four hits and two runs to cut CSUDH's lead to 5-4, but with runners at the corners, he delivered a nasty 0-2 breaking ball that fanned the final Gator batter, evening the series at one game apiece.

In the nightcap, the Gators struck for three runs in the 1st, before Scott Ogrin got the Toros on the board with his own solo shot in the bottom half of the frame.  CSUDH took the lead one inning later with three runs, the big blow coming on an Eric Smelko 2RBI double.

The Gators retook the lead in the 3rd with two, only to have Ogrin match that outpout with a 2RBI double of his own one inning later.  

After SFSU tied the game in the 5th, the Toros looked to take control of the game after pinch-hitter Vincent Temesvary was plunked with the bases loaded and Smelko drove in another with a sacrifice fly, but the Gators refused to go quietly, scoring twice in the top of the 6th..

That's when Loska took over, hammering a 2-1 offering to the opposite field to give the Toros the eventual game-winner as Zachariah McCorvey relieved Carlos Bracamontes in the 7th to earn the final out of the game for the save.

Smelko and Ogrin both knocked two hits and drove in three in the win.

The two teams conclude the four-game set tomorrow morning, with first pitch set for 11 am on Toro Field.