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SEASIDE, Calif. (Feb. 7) -- Senior Kyle Sani (Kennewick/Southridge HS) went 3 for 5 with a double, a home run, and three runs batted in, and the Central Washington University baseball team rallied from a 7-1 deficit, but the Wildcats fell to host California State University Monterey Bay, 10-9, on Thursday afternoon at the Otter Sports Complex.

CWU fell to 0-5 on the season, while CSUMB improved to 4-0 on the year. The two teams play the second game of their four-game series on Friday at 2 p.m.

The Wildcats fell behind after the Otters scored at least once in each of the first four innings. CWU got its first run of the contest on a solo home run by Sani in the top of the second, which at the time tied the score at 1-1, but CSUMB answered with two runs each in the second, third, and fourth innings to build its lead.

CWU rallied back in a big way in the top of the fifth inning, nearly matching its entire offensive output of its first four games in that single frame. The Wildcats pounded out seven hits and scored six runs, with two-run doubles by junior Ethan Sterkel (Ellensburg) and Sani. Sophomore Kasey Bielec (Port Orchard/North Mason HS) and junior Justen Weigel (Naches/Naches Valley HS), who both joined Sani with three-hit games, also drove in runs in the inning with a single and double, respectively.

Junior right-hander Willie Davies (Shoreline/Shorecrest HS) kept the Otters off the scoreboard in his 2 2/3 innings of relief work, allowing just two hits. He left the game with a 9-7 lead, in fact, after CWU had pushed ahead with a two-run seventh inning. Weigel drove home a pair of runs with a one-out single, scoring Bielec and junior Scott Stone (Corvallis, Ore./Crescent Valley HS).

CSUMB tied the game in the bottom of the eighth when a pair of runners came home on a two-out wild pitch. Both runs were unearned after a costly one-out error enabled the Otters to extend their inning. Sterkel came on in relief on the mound, and after a stolen base and passed ball put the go-ahead run at third base with two out, he induced a fly out to end the inning.

CWU had a chance to go ahead in the top of the ninth inning, collecting a pair of singles, but both runners were left on the base paths. CSUMB capitalized on Wildcat miscues in the bottom of the inning, as Sterkel struck out pinch-hitter Cannon Bernarding, but Bernarding reached safely on a passed ball. Pinch runner Nolan Murray, running for Bernarding, would eventually score the winning run on a two-out RBI single by Tommy George.

The Wildcats' offense finished with a season-high 16 hits -- just seven fewer than they had accumulated in their four-game series at Cal State East Bay. In addition to the three-hit performances from Sani, Bielec, and Weigel, Sterkel and junior Joel Johnson (Olympia) were both 2 for 5.

The CWU pitching staff suffered some bad luck as well, as five passed balls and two errors translated into six unearned runs by CSUMB. Sterkel (0-1) suffered the hard-luck loss in his collegiate pitching debut.

George and Brian Haggett led the Otters' 14-hit attack with three hits each, while three others had two safeties apiece. A.J. Quintero was credited with the victory (1-0) after pitching a scoreless ninth for CSUMB.