CHICO – Scott Orgin hit his 21
st home run of the season to break Cal State Dominguez Hills' single-season record, but the excitement for it wasn't quite there as No. 2 Cal Poly Pomona capitalized on two big innings to beat the Toros 8-5 in the semifinal of the CCAA Baseball Championships Thursday evening.
The Toros miraculous run in the tournament now comes down to a win-or-go-home situation starting tonight at approximately 7:05 p.m. against No. 4 Cal State San Bernardino in the semifinal round of the loser's bracket, with the winner given the opportunity to meet the Broncos for the conference tournament title Saturday.
Ogrin's new home run mark came in the eighth inning. Though it did bring joy to a dugout for the reigning CSUDH Male Athlete of the Year, the Broncos had drained the Toros full energy after scoring four runs in the seventh and two in the eighth to take a 7-3 lead.
Anthony Accordino did lead off the ninth inning with a home run out of hope the magic would come back to them. It appeared so when
Alberto Luevano singled and
Matt Mecate drew a walk with one out and the tying run coming to the plate. But Eric Romo got the next two batters on strikeouts to send the Toros to the elimination bracket.
Both sides collected 13 hits in the game, but it was Dominguez Hills who stranded the most runners on base at 13.
The Toros did strike first in the first inning with three straight hits from the top of the order in
Eric Smelko,
Scott Ogrin and
Pierson Loska to knock in the first run of the game. Accordino got the second run later in the inning with an RBI single.
The lead would stay that way until the start of the fourth inning, when the Broncos tied the game on a 2-run home run off the foul pole.
Starting pitcher
Nate Ortiz made it 4.1 innings striking out four while giving up three hits and two walks.
