CARSON -- It was deja vu all over again as Cal State Dominguez Hills routed visiting Concordia University Irvine this afternoon at Toro Field, this time by a 9-1 score. Senior
Quinn Johnson (pictured) enjoyed a 3-for-3 effort with 3 RBI and a run scored while teammate
Nigel Buckley connected for a grand slam and a quintet of Toro hurlers limiting CUI to just four hits and one unearned run.
Both starting pitchers -
Zachary Lopez for Dominguez and Shane Thomas for Concordia - held the opposing offense scoreless entering the bottom of the 5th inning. That's when the Toro offense struck as
Angel Cortez opened the scoring with an RBI single to plate
Zac Ragland, who singled with one out in the frame, and move
Ben Saitz to second base.
After a ground out moved the runners over, Concordia chose to intentionally walk the hot-hitting Johnson to bring up Buckley, who turned insult to Golden Eagle injury by belting one deep over the left field fence for a grand slam and a 5-0 lead.
Facing a new CUI pitcher in the 6th, the Toros kept their collective foot on the pedal, the big blow coming on a bases-clearing double by Johnson that went to right center for a 9-0 lead.
CUI scraped a run across in the top of the 9th to spoil the shutout bid, but it was too little, too late in the 9-1 final.
Chris Cornelius picked up his first win of the year after entering with two out in the 4th and tossing 1.1 innings of one-hit ball.
Ragland also enjoyed a 3-hit effort, and joined Saitz as each scored twice in the runaway win.
The two teams conclude their four-game set tomorrow by shifting scenes, playing a twinbill in Irvine with a 1 pm game one first pitch.
