On a day where six players would don purple and gold for the last time, one play reminded SF State senior Dillon Meyer of his childhood memories.
An inside the park home run in the bottom of the second had Meyer nostalgic as the rare play drove in two runs and helped SF State defeat the Cal State East Bay Pioneers in the final game of the season, 5-3 at home, May 4.
“That brings me back to Little League. That normally doesn’t happen,” Meyer said. “It’s funny, all of us infielders were talking about it the other day how the only way you’re getting an inside the park home run is if the infielder dives down the front line and he’s slow and it ended up happening and it was great. It was really funny.”
As Meyer rushed around the bases, he caught a glimpse of the infielder diving for the ball and thought the most he would get out of the hit was a triple as he reached second base.
“I looked at coach and he’s just waving me home and I was like, ‘Lets do this. I’m a little bit gassed but lets see if I can make it,’” Meyer said. “It’s a good feeling definitely but it’s a homerun in the books. It looked like it went over the fence so that’s the good part too.”
Senior pitcher Jack Veronin, in his final game as a Gator, went eight innings and had three strikeouts and gave up two runs on 11 hits. He picked up his fourth win of the year in the final start of his career, but it wasn’t until Veronin’s final inning that the thought of this being his final game on the mound hit him.
“It didn’t feel real until about the eighth inning,” Veronin said. “I knew my time was winding down, but it was fun.”
Gators head coach Mike Cummins said the plan was for Veronin to go the full nine innings but saw that the Pioneers had other plans in mind.
“I wanted to get him a complete game on his last start for us but after the home run we just wanted him to get the win,” Cummins said.
Junior Cory Davis came in to close out the game and although he gave up a home run immediately after replacing Veronin, Davis was able to recover and picked up his 13th save of the year.
Prior to the start of the game, Gators’ players Meyer and Veronin, along with teammates Taylor Wade, Trevor Diskin and Grady Espinosa, were honored for Senior Day.
Third baseman Matt Vera helped Meyer lead the Gator offense with a pair of hits and two runs in three at bats. Vera said he will be back next season and is excited because it will be his last.
“I’m going to be a senior, it’ll be my last year and I definitely want to go out strong,” Vera said.
The Gators ended the season with 22-28 record and finished eighth in their conference with a record of 17-23.
