CHICO – Casey Edelbrock is used to closing games. After all, he leads the Chico State baseball team with four saves this year, just one season after earning First-Team All-America honors by notching 10 saves at Palomar Community College as a sophomore. He isn’t used to doing it this way though.
Edelbrock’s final pitch Sunday, a grounder that first baseman Kevin Seaver snared with a beautiful diving backhand before taking it to first base for the final out, finished a complete-game shutout in Edelbrock’s first start of the season. The hard-throwing right-hander allowed just five hits, didn’t walk a hitter, and struck out two to complete the Wildcats’ doubleheader sweep of Cal State Stanislaus at Nettleton Stadium. Chico State won the first game 8-2 and the second 9-0.
Chico State, ranked No. 9 in the nation, improved to 18-6 overall and 13-1 at home. The Wildcats also moved into a tie with Cal State Dominguez Hills for second in the California Collegiate Athletic Association standings at 14-6, two games behind first-place UC San Diego.
Scott Greene allowed just two hits in seven innings to win the opener.
Scott Greene, who started the first game, was equally impressive. He allowed just two hits and a walk in seven innings of work. The outings of Greene and Edelbrock were a windfall for the Wildcats, who are looking for more quality outings from their starting rotation. Staff ace Michael Gleason (4-0, 3.52 ERA) has been very good and shut out the Warriors on Friday, and Greene improved to 2-0 with a 3.60 ERA with Sunday’s effort. But until Sunday, everyone else Head Coach Dave Taylor has given the ball to start a game has been inconsistent at best.
Now, if Edelbrock’s outing was not an aberration – it likely wasn’t as evidenced by his 2-1 record, 2.60 ERA and .194 opposing batting average – he may need to find just one more starter to complete what could be a very nice starting rotation.
That would be a very nice compliment to a Wildcats’ team that has flashed a strong bullpen and plenty of offensive firepower thus far this season.
Chico State’s offense was back at it again Sunday, piling up eight runs in the sixth inning of the opener six in the opening frame of the nightcap, and three more in the sixth inning of the second game.
Adam Arakawa had two more multi-hit games and now has 14 in Chico State’s last 17 contests. He went 2-for-3 in the first game. Deven Braden was 2-for-5 and drove in a pair. Michael Murphy went 3-for-5. And true freshman Tony Hernandez was 2-for-4 in his first collegiate start.
In the second game, Arakawa and Kevin Seaver tallied two hits apiece, while Seaver and Adrian Bringas each drove in a pair of runs.
Cal State Stanislaus (11-14, 7-9 CCAA) first-game starter Kory Wallace looked as though he would match Greene pitch-for-pitch in the early going. But he allowed three straight hits to open the sixth and his day was suddenly done. All three runners eventually scored and he was saddled with the loss, allowing three runs on five hits in five innings.
Murphy drove in the game’s first round and moved to third on Arakawa’s base hit that ended Wallace’s afternoon. Warriors’ third baseman Vince Hungerford misplayed Kevin Seaver’s ground ball after Warriors’ ace reliever Eric Cendejas entered the game, allowing the second run to score. Cendejas’ throwing error on a pickoff attempt and the balk that followed allowed Arakawa to score and then Bringas drove in Seaver with a base hit to center field to make it 4-0.
Tony Hernandez went 2-for-4 in his first collegiate start.
Consecutive singles by Hunter Buckmore and Hernandez loaded the bases, and Ben Manlove punched an RBI-single through the left side against another reliever, Michael Johnson. Jordan Larson’s ground ball to short plated another run, and Braden followed with his second hit of the inning, a two-run single, to make it 8-0.
Greene didn’t even let the Warriors sniff the lead. He retired the side in order in the first, striking out two, struck out two more in a 1-2-3 second, struck out another hitter in the third, and after allowing the game’s first hit in the fourth, promptly picked the base runner off first base. Greene logged his sixth strikeout to finish another 1-2-3 fifth.
His only trouble came in the when Hungerford led off the sixth with a double, but Greene made a nice play on an attempted sacrifice bunt, gunning down Hungerford at third to end the Warriors’ best chance to score against Greene all day.
Cal State Stanislaus finally broke through in the ninth with only their third and fourth hits of the game. Colton Beatty doubled to lead off the inning and came around to score on Corey Conflenti’s two-run homer down the left field line.
The Wildcats did not wait to put their stamp on the second game. The only out Warriors starter Derek Eaton recorded was on Braden’s sacrifice bunt after Larson was hit by a pitch leading off the game. An RBI-single from Murphy, Arakawa’s base hit, Seaver’s RBI-single, and Bringas’ RBI-double followed, spelling the end of Eaton’s outing. Travis Kruger singled in Bringas and later scored the inning’s final run on an error to make it 6-0.
Edelbrock was cruising, allowing just a single in the third and another in the fifth, and he had faced just two batters over the minimum through six.
Chico State padded its lead with three more runs in the sixth. Manlove and Larson singled and Braden bunted them over to start the inning. Murphy was walked intentionally in front of Arakawa, the CCAA’s leading hitter, and Arakawa answered the challenge with a ringing single to left field, driving in one run. Another scored on an errant throw from Warriors’ left fielder John Canepa. Seaver’s RBI-grounder completed the scoring for the Wildcats, who have now scored three or more runs in an inning 36 times this season.
BOX SCORES