Ben Manlove, one of the breakout performers on the 2010 Chico State baseball team, put together perhaps his best series to date in leading the Wildcats to three wins in four games against archrival Sonoma State over the weekend. Manlove batted .600 and drove in the game-winning run in the series finale to earn Wildcat of the Week honors.
Manlove banged out six hits in the series and also reached base twice via walks and once when he was hit by a pitch for a weekend on-base percentage of .692. He scored four runs on the weekend and had one RBI, which was a biggie. Manlove laced a two-out single to left field with the score tied 2-2 in the sixth inning of Saturday's second game, plating Adrian Bringas with the game-winning run and securing the series victory.
Manlove scored both of Chico State's game-winning runs two days earlier in their doubleheader sweep at Nettleton Stadium. With two down in the fourth inning of the second game the score was tied 4-4, but he kept the inning alive with an infield single and eventually scored to put the Wildcats on top for good. He sparked another two-run rally in his next at-bat, leading off the sixth inning with a single.
And who was it that got the Wildcats' game-winning frally in the series opener? Yep, Manlove. He singled to start the Wildcats' four-run third inning, doubled and scored in the fourth and notched another base hit in the eighth.
All that, and Manlove's greatest strength this season has been his defense. He allowed just one stolen base against the Seawolves, who entered the weekend averaging a stolen base per game, and has gunned down five of nine attempted base thiefs this season. Manlove, a redshirt freshman from Berkeley, has also played his first 31 collegiate games without making a single error in 165 chances.
He'll try to keep that streak alive this weekend as the Wildcats head to Southern California for a four-game series at Cal State L.A.
