Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 SAN MARCOS, Calif. – The No. 11 Cal State San Marcos baseball team completed a four-game sweep of La Sierra by winning both ends of Sunday's doubleheader, 7-2 and 8-0 (7 innings), in Association of Independent Institutions (A.I.I.) play at CSUSM Baseball Field.

Kody Sepulveda went 6-for-7 with three doubles and two RBI on the day, while Marcus Meraz (4-for-9) and Brooks Noble (3-for-7) each had a double and three RBI.

The series sweep improves the Cougars to 26-6 overall and 9-1 in A.I.I. play. La Sierra drops to 2-28 and 1-8 in conference competition.

Sepulveda tallied five doubles in the series while hitting .643 (9-for-14) with four RBI. Noble was 5-for-9 (.559) with four RBI while Rich Montanez finished 5-for-7 (.714) with a homerun and three RBI. Meraz and Brandon Bentson led the team with five RBI during the series.

CSUSM out-hit LSU .409 to .159 and outscored the Golden Eagles, 39-6. 13 Cougar batters tallied at least one hit in the series.

Game One

Noble went 2-for-4 with a double and Bentson came through with a clutch two-run single in the third, as the Cougars rebounded from an early deficit to overtake the Golden Eagles, 7-2.

After La Sierra scored twice in the first inning without a hit due to a throwing error from CSUSM starter Steve Messner, the Cougars used a six-hit, four-run third inning to take the lead for good.

Adam Tapia and Mike Guadagnini led off the inning with a pair of singles before a double from Meraz brought home Tapia to make it 2-1. Tyler Bernard followed with a slow chopper to the right side, beating the throw from the second baseman for a single. Guadagnini crossed the plate on the play to make it 2-2.

With runners on the corners and no outs, Bentson singled to left center, driving in Meraz and Guadagnini to put the Cougars up 4-2. After scoring four runs without recording an out, CSUSM fell victim to a double play that effectively ended the situation from getting worse for La Sierra.

Messner did well to work himself out of a dicey situation in the fourth. Two of the first three batters of the inning singled before Thomas Martinez walked with two out load the bases. Just a base hit away from losing the lead, Messner drew a ground ball from Harrison Guiol that was easily handled by Kenny Belzer at third base to escape the jam.

The senior left-hander went six innings for the Cougars, striking out six while allowing just a pair of hits on the way to his fifth win of the season (5-1) and first since his complete-game four-hitter against Vanguard on March 16.

Belzer's sacrifice fly scored Bernard to make it 5-2 in the bottom of the fifth.

In the seventh, Sepulveda doubled to right center with a runner aboard to put runners on second and third. Noble knocked them both in with a two-out double to left center to increase CSUSM's advantage to 7-2. It marked Noble's first extra-base hit of the season.

Game Two

Sepulveda went 4-for-4 with a pair of doubles and a pair of RBI, as CSUSM used a five-run sixth inning to put the game out of reach. Montanez went 3-for-3 while Meraz scored twice, went 2-for-4 and added two RBI.

Sepulveda broke a scoreless stalemate in the bottom of the third by sending a double to left center to bring in Meraz from first to make it 1-0.

Belzer, making his first start on the mound since February 15, worked three relatively uneventful innings before running into some issues in the top of the fourth. A bloop single from Adrian Gardea put runners on first and third with two outs and Belzer was replaced by reliever Kyle Kuck.

A head's up play by Kuck and catcher Rich Montanez kept LSU off the board. Kuck's 3-2 pitch was wide and careened off the backstop. Montanez tracked it down and flipped it back to Kuck who covered home in time to tag out Ryan Diaz at the plate and end the inning.

Montanez parlayed momentum from the play into his at-bat in the bottom of the fourth, driving in Zach Tieger from second with a one-out single down the right-field line to put CSUSM up two.  

In the fifth, Sepulveda rocketed a line-drive off the right center-field wall, narrowly missing a homerun by about a foot. He settled for his second double of the game and third of the afternoon. Noble picked him up from second with an RBI single to center.

Already leading 3-0, the Cougars rallied for five more runs in the bottom of the sixth.

John Swilley beat out an infield single before moving over to third on another single from Montanez down the right-field line. Guadagnini followed with a double to right center to score Swilley.

With runners on second and third, Meraz brought them both home with a single up the middle to push the lead to 6-0.

Meraz scored on Benjamin Vasquez's wild pitch before Sepulveda drove in Bernard with a single to left for the final run of the game.

Kuck (2-0) earned the victory in relief of Belzer. Kevin Hilton worked the sixth and seventh innings, striking out a pair to preserve the win.

CSUSM hosts two home games this week. The Cougars face NCAA Division II's Azusa Pacific on Tuesday at 3:00 p.m. before clashing with Westmont on Thursday at 2:00 p.m.

CSUSM and Westmont will also play a doubleheader in Santa Barbara at noon on Saturday, April 13.