No. 3 Chargers Take Down No. 9 Blue Devils, 4-1

No. 3 Chargers Take Down No. 9 Blue Devils, 4-1

CYPRESS, CA – The Cypress College baseball team (8-3) won their fifth consecutive game on Saturday afternoon against the visiting Merced College Blue Devils (7-3), 4-1. The Chargers entered the contest ranked No. 3 in Southern California, while Merced held a No. 9 ranking in Northern California.

Sophomore pitcher Connor McCollum (W, 2-0) earned the win in his second start of the season. McCollum went 5.0 innings, allowing just one run on four hits, while notching a season-high seven strikeouts. Merced's Jefferson Gray (L, 2-1) received his first loss of the season, allowing four runs on six hits in 6.0 innings of work.

Sophomores Pierson Loska (2-for-4, RBI) and Elias Ledesma (2-for-4) led the Cypress offense.

The Chargers got off to a quick start, scoring two runs in the bottom of the first. Jesse Lopez (1-for-3) led off with a single to left field, before Dominic Campeau (1-for-4, RBI) drilled an RBI double to the centerfield wall. Campeau would advance to third on a Jack Gardner (1-for-4) groundout, before scoring on an RBI groundout from Loska.

Both teams traded runs in the third inning, making it a 3-1 game. The Blue Devils got on the board with an RBI single from Omar Sanchez (2-for-4, RBI), scoring Eddie Avila. With Lopez on second in the bottom of the inning for Cypress, Campeau reached first on an error allowing Lopez to score.

The Chargers added an insurance run in the sixth when Trevor Fonseca (1-for-3, RBI) hit an RBI single to right, scoring Loska, who reached on a double.

Merced threatened with the tying run at the plate in the eighth and ninth innings, but freshman pitcher Austin Spinney (Sv, 1) got the Chargers out of the jam to earn his first save of the season.

The Chargers will look to add to winning streak when they resume action at home against Long Beach City College on Tuesday at 2:00 p.m.

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