The article below originally appeared in the San Mateo Daily Journal and is being reprinted with permission.

The College of San Mateo baseball team finally reached the .500 mark overall and moved its conference record to 6-4 with a 6-1 win yesterday over West Valley.

CSM, which was ranked No. 1 in Northern California in the opening preseason poll, has struggled at times this year but evened its overall record at 12-12 with Tuesday’s win. The Bulldogs were held scoreless for the first three innings before erupting for five runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Ryan O’Malley drove in the first run of the game with a single to right and Kailen Robinson drove in two more with a triple to the left-center field gap. Joe Armstrong also drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. The Bulldogs added an insurance run in the fifth on a DeFazio RBI single.

Pitcher Zac Grotz picked up the win for CSM, pitching eight strong innings, scattering five hits and striking out six.