Costa Mesa, Calif. - It was a long trip and a short stay for the Cal State East Bay Pioneers who were scheduled to play a three-game series with the Vanguard Lions today and tomorrow. A poor weather forecast for Saturday led to pushing today's start up to 11:00 a.m. in hopes of playing a double header before the rains came and limiting Saturday to a single header. However, today proved that you can't fool mother nature as light rain teased of a blow over as game time approached. Tossing the first pitch out on schedule, the teams' hopes of the weather clearing up soon vanished as the clouds darkened and the sky began to open up on a faithful crowd of baseball fans. Playing for two hours on the increasingly muddy field, the game was finally halted in the bottom of the fifth inning. With three runs removed from the incomplete last at bat, the Lions left the yard with a 4-0 victory, official after 4.5 innings of play.
Junior southpaw Bryce Reid made his first start of the season on the hill for the Lions and had a very strong outing in spite of the nasty weather. Posting five zeroes on the board, Reid allowed only four hits and two walks as he struck out four hitters in five innings on his way to his first shutout of the year.
The Lions supplied more than enough power to notch their third win of the season with three of their four hits sailing over the fence for solo home runs. CSUEB's John Volk hit VU leadoff batter Zach Leighton to set the tone for the bottom of the first inning. A sacrifice bunt moved Leighton to second base and Volk's balk advanced him to third, enabling a Kip Masuda ground-out to put the Lions on the board.
Senior catcher Eric Krzysiak launched his first dinger of the year over the right field fence to double VU's lead in the bottom of the second inning. Despite the sloppy conditions, Volk managed to strand runners and get out of jams. The thing he couldn't prevent though, big flies, were costly. Jacob Domingos ripped a one-out homer to right-center and Brandon Pesante added a two-out round-tripper in the bottom of the fourth, giving the Lions a 4-0 lead as they entered the top of the fifth. With the rain getting heavier with every pitch, the game was delayed in the middle of a Vanguard rally in the home half of the inning. Vanguard had tacked on three runs by the time the game was eventually called off for good with a final tally of 7-0.
The ensuing heavy rain sent the Pioneers back to the bus and packing for the return trip home as tomorrow's game has also been canceled. The Lions are scheduled to return to action on Tuesday with an evening game at CSU San Marcos. Game time is set for 5:00 p.m.
Boxscore
