Coming off two close losses at Cal State East Bay on Saturday, the SF State baseball team came to the Swamp looking for redemption in Tuesday’s home opener. The Gators needed a win not only to prevent a series sweep, but also to help bury the memories of last season.

SF State got quality pitching from starter Spencer Kreisberg and a three-run homer from Matt Edgecombe to get past Cal State East Bay 3-1 for the first win of the season.

“It’s really nice to get the monkey off our back for the year,” said Gator head coach Tony Dress.

As the Gators faced a committee on the mound from the Pioneers—six different pitchers in total— Kreisberg’s strong start along with two innings of relief from Danny Grybill were enough to quiet the Pioneers’ bats.

With the game scoreless in the fourth inning, Edgecombe provided all the offense SF State (1-2) would need.

After back-to-back singles from Evan Romanchuk and Connor Buestad, Edgecombe hit the first pitch he saw from the Pioneers’ Eric Greene over the right-field fence.

“I was just looking to stay inside something and put a good swing on it and something good happened,” Edgecombe said.

Edgecombe finished 1-for-4 in the game. Matt Kavanaugh went 2-for-4 while Romanchuk finished 2-for-4 with a run scored. Buestad went 1-for-2 with a run scored for the Gators. For the Gators, the win ends a tough streak against Cal State East Bay (2-1).

“These guys swept us last year and they took two games from us the first two games of the season,” Edgecombe said. “We just battled back and took it from them.”

Although Kreisberg wasn’t over-powering, the sophomore pitcher hit his spots to take the sting out of the Pioneers’ offense. Kreisberg allowed three hits, struck out three and walked four in seven innings.

“I just try to throw strikes and get the hitters to hit it to the fielders out there,” Kreisberg said.

Kreisberg ran into trouble in the sixth after walking two consecutive batters with only one out. This prompted a visit to the mound from Dress, who told his starting pitcher to “just trust his stuff and get out of the inning,” said Dress.

Kreisberg responded by getting the next two batters to fly out and end the threat. Danny Grybill relieved Kreisberg in the eighth and allowed one hit, an unearned on a wild pitch and struck out three.

Although the Pioneers swept the Gators in a double-header over the weekend, SF State came close to starting the season with three wins. But the Gators fell 13-12 and 2-0 to open the season on the road.

In the first game, SF State scored five runs in the eighth inning to cut the Cal State East Bay lead to one and finished the game with 16 hits. But the Gators fell behind early and spent the rest of the game trying to catch up. The Gators went down in order in the ninth to end the game.

The Gators had three players with three RBIs—Bobby Carini (3-for-5 with a run scored), Edgecombe (2-for-5 with a run scored) and Kavanaugh (2-for-5 with one walk and two strikeouts). Ernie Munoz finished 3-for-5 with an RBI and three runs scored for the Gators.

SF State couldn’t transfer its offense over to the second game and lost 2-0 as Saturday’s game was called after five innings due to the rain. Zach Beal started on the mound for SF State and allowed one earned run on three hits and struck out three in five innings.

SF State will travel to Rohnert Park on Feb. 9 to face Sonoma State in a double-header beginning at 11 a.m. The Gators were 0-6 against Sonoma State last season.