CHICO - Behind the pitching of Mike Robbins and a productive Wildcat offense, the No. 4-ranked Chico State baseball team easily won the opening game of today’s doubleheader against No. 24 Mesa State, 9-4, but the Maverick’s spoiled the Wildcats’ chance of a series sweep with a 7-1 win in the second game. Chico State is now 7-2 overall as they prepare for the opening of CCAA play next weekend. Mesa State lands at 5-6 overall.
In the opening game, Robbins held the Mavericks scoreless through seven innings, allowing just four hits and striking out five over the span. In the eighth after back-to-back hits to lead off the inning and a sacrifice fly, Austin Bellanich came on for his first appearance of the season and got the Wildcats out of the inning with a pop up, a walk, and a grounder to second base.
Robbins (W, 2-0) has now given up just two runs in sixteen innings of work for a 1.12 ERA. He’s recorded 10 strikeouts and three walks, while giving up 13 hits in his two appearances.
Bellanich gave up a run and had runners on second and third with no outs in the ninth inning when Kyle Gibson was called on to finish out the game. Gibson gave up a sacrifice fly and a double before recording the final two outs.
Chico scored solo runs in the first and fifth innings, compliments of Bret Ringer. Ringer drove in Travis DeCoito, who led off the game with a single, and was sacrificed to second. In the fifth Ringer blasted his first homer of the season over the left field fence, earning every fan in attendance a Carl’s Jr. hamburger for completing the feat in the designated “Home-Run Inning”.
The Wildcats broke open the game in the sixth, scoring four runs, all with two outs on the scoreboard. Chico had five hits in the frame, including RBI singles by Kyle Eveland, Ringer, and a two-run single by Matt Bitker. Bitker and Ringer each had three of the Wildcats’ 13 hits in the game.
Making a big splash in his first at bat of the game, Trevor Moore came up in the seventh and hit the first pitch he saw over the left field fence for a two-run homer and an 8-0 Wildcat lead. In the eighth, Jeff Senters came up for his first time this season, reached on an error and came around to score the Wildcats’ final run. Just as impressive was Kevin Seaver’s first at bat in a Wildcat uniform. He lined the first pitch he saw into left field for a hit in the eighth.
Mesa State used four pitchers in the game. Starter Chris Carma (L, 1-1) allowed five runs on eight hits in five and two-thirds innings. T.J. Butch had the toughest time of the four, giving up three runs on three hits in just a third of an inning.
The Mavericks had nine hits in the game, two apiece by Mike Provencher and Curtis Englehart.
In the late game, the tables were turned as the Mesa State bats heated up as the Wildcats’ cooled off. Chico State mustered just two hits off Mesa pitchers Jack Amidei (W, 2-0), who allowed one run on two hits and Kevin Chritz, who picked up his first save of the season. Chritz came on in the fifth with two outs and retired all seven batters he faced, which included a double-play ball to second to end the game.
Mesa scored solo runs in the first and third innings and held a 2-0.
Ringer drove in the only run of the game for the Wildcats in the fourth with a sacrifice fly to left field, which scored DeCoito, who reached on a walk, stole second and advanced to third on an error.
The Mavericks added two insurance runs in the sixth, thanks to a two run homer by Chandler Herdt, his third of the season. In the seventh, Mesa State led off the inning with four straight hits, three for extra bases, and scored three quick runs for the 7-1 final. Justin Little had an RBI double and Provencher roped a two run double to left.
Andrew Pluta (L, 1-1), who was near perfect last Saturday, gave up four runs, three earned, on seven hits. He struck out five in his five and one-third innings. The Wildcats’ two hits came from Josh Meagher, who’s single to lead off the second innings extended his team-leading hitting streak to six games and Cody Dee, wholead off the third with a single.
The Wildcats kick off CCAA play with a four-game series against Cal State L.A. next weekend. Game times are Friday at 2pm, Saturday doubleheader at noon, and the final game on Sunday at noon.
Chico State Wildcats
#24 Mesa State at #4 Chico State (Game 1)
Feb 16, 2008 at Chico, Calif. (Nettleton Stadium)
Mesa State 4 (4-6)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
Andrew Martinez 2b/ss.... 4 1 1 1 0 0 0 3 1
Mike Provencher ss/cf.... 5 0 2 1 0 1 2 3 0
Curtis Englehart 1b...... 3 0 2 1 1 0 12 0 0
Kyle Hogue 3b............ 4 0 1 0 0 1 2 3 1
Chandler Herdt rf........ 2 0 0 0 2 1 2 0 2
Justin Little cf......... 3 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 3
Steve Moralez ph/2b..... 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
Joe Schmidtbauer dh...... 4 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0
Grant Vickers c.......... 3 1 0 0 0 0 4 1 0
Chris Cassell lf......... 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Blake Carlquist lf...... 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Chris Carma p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
T.J. Butch p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Josh Ogden p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Freddie Hampe p......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals................... 33 4 9 4 3 5 24 12 9
Chico State 9 (7-1)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
DeCOITO, Travis cf/lf.... 5 1 1 0 0 0 2 0 0
EVELAND, Kyle ss......... 3 1 1 1 1 1 0 6 0
RINGER, Bret 3b.......... 4 2 3 3 0 0 0 1 0
SENTERS, Jeff ph/3b..... 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
BITKER, Matt 1b.......... 4 0 3 2 0 1 10 0 1
SEAVER, Kevin ph/1b..... 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0
VICTOR, Nick lf.......... 3 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 2
BURKE, Joey rf.......... 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0
BOSCARINO, Phil 2b....... 2 1 0 0 2 0 4 0 2
LIEDEL, Nick 2b......... 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 2 0
DINGMAN, Nick dh......... 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
MOORE, Trevor pr/dh..... 2 2 1 2 0 0 0 0 2
FINN, Joe c.............. 2 0 0 0 0 0 5 1 0
DEE, Cody c............. 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
FARMER, Shane rf/cf...... 4 1 1 0 0 1 3 0 3
ROBBINS, Mike p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
BELLANICH, Austin p..... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
GIBSON, Kyle p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals................... 37 9 13 9 4 5 27 11 10
Score by Innings R H E
-------------------------------------------
Mesa State.......... 000 000 013 - 4 9 4
Chico State......... 100 014 21X - 9 13 0
-------------------------------------------
E - A. Martinez; K. Hogue; J. Little; C. Carma. DP - MSC 1. LOB - MSC 9;
Chico 10. 2B - M Provencher 2(5); B. Carlquist(2). HR - RINGER(1); MOORE(1).
HBP - G. Vickers. SH - K. Hogue; EVELAND; FINN. SF - A. Martinez; C.
Englehart.
Mesa State IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP
--------------------------------------------------
Chris Carma......... 5.2 8 5 5 3 4 24 29 -
T.J. Butch.......... 0.1 3 3 3 1 0 4 5 -
Josh Ogden.......... 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 3 3 -
Freddie Hampe....... 1.0 2 1 0 0 0 6 6 -
Chico State IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP
--------------------------------------------------
ROBBINS, Mike....... 7.1 6 1 1 2 5 26 30 -
BELLANICH, Austin... 0.2 2 3 3 1 0 4 6 -
GIBSON, Kyle........ 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 3 4 -
Win - ROBBINS (2-0). Loss - C. Carma (1-1). Save - None.
WP - C. Carma 3; ROBBINS. HBP - by BELLANICH (G. Vickers). Inherited
runners/scored: T.J. Butch 2/2; BELLANICH 1/0; GIBSON 2/2. Pitches/strikes: None.
Umpires - HP: Josh Gottlieb 1B: Paul Case 2B: Ken Durham
Start: 11:00 Time: 2:45 Attendance:
T.J. Butch faced 2 batters in the 7th.
BELLANICH faced 3 batters in the 9th.
Chico State Wildcats
#24 Mesa State at #4 Chico State (Game 2)
Feb 16, 2008 at Chico, Calif. (Nettleton Stadium)
Mesa State 7 (5-6)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
Justin Little cf......... 4 2 3 1 0 1 0 0 0
Andrew Martinez 3b....... 3 2 1 0 0 0 1 2 0
Mike Provencher ss....... 4 1 2 2 0 0 2 3 0
Curtis Englehart 1b...... 4 0 2 2 0 0 4 1 0
Chandler Herdt rf........ 4 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 1
Kyle Hogue dh............ 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
Blake Carlquist lf....... 4 0 2 0 0 1 3 0 2
Jon Evans 2b............. 3 0 0 0 0 1 5 3 1
Marty Rover c............ 3 1 1 0 0 1 5 0 0
Jack Amidei p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Kevin Chritz p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals................... 31 7 12 7 0 6 21 9 6
Chico State 1 (7-2)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
DeCOITO, Travis cf....... 2 1 0 0 1 0 4 0 2
EVELAND, Kyle ss......... 2 0 0 0 1 1 1 2 0
RINGER, Bret 3b.......... 2 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 0
MEAGHER, Josh dh......... 3 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0
BITKER, Matt 1b.......... 2 0 0 0 1 1 5 0 1
SENTERS, Jeff pr........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
VICTOR, Nick lf.......... 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0
DEE, Cody c.............. 3 0 1 0 0 0 7 2 0
BOSCARINO, Phil 2b....... 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 0
BURKE, Joey rf........... 1 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0
PLUTA, Andrew p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0
WOODRUFF, Kyle p........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
GAUGHEN, Dylan p........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
DOWL, Drew p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
GARCIA, Jr. p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals................... 19 1 2 1 5 5 21 10 3
Score by Innings R H E
-----------------------------------------
Mesa State.......... 101 002 3 - 7 12 2
Chico State......... 000 100 0 - 1 2 2
-----------------------------------------
E - M. Rover 2; EVELAND; BOSCARINO. DP - MSC 3; Chico 1. LOB - MSC 6; Chico
3. 2B - J. Little 2(4); M Provencher(6); B. Carlquist(3). 3B - M. Rover(1).
HR - C. Herdt(3). HBP - K. Hogue 2. SH - A. Martinez. SF - RINGER. SB -
DeCOITO.
Mesa State IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP
--------------------------------------------------
Jack Amidei......... 4.2 2 1 0 4 4 13 18 -
Kevin Chritz........ 2.1 0 0 0 1 1 6 7 -
Chico State IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP
--------------------------------------------------
PLUTA, Andrew....... 5.1 7 4 3 0 5 22 24 -
WOODRUFF, Kyle...... 0.2 1 0 0 0 0 2 2 -
GAUGHEN, Dylan...... 0.0 4 3 3 0 0 4 4 -
DOWL, Drew.......... 0.2 0 0 0 0 1 2 3 -
GARCIA, Jr.......... 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 -
Win - J. Amidei (2-0). Loss - PLUTA (1-1). Save - K. Chritz (1).
WP - J. Amidei. HBP - by PLUTA (K. Hogue); by DOWL (K. Hogue). Inherited
runners/scored: K. Chritz 2/0; WOODRUFF 1/0; DOWL 1/0; GARCIA, Jr. 2/0.
Pitches/strikes: None.
Umpires - HP: Peter Durphy 1B: Ken Durham 2B: Paul Case
Start: 2:20 Time: 2:22 Attendance: 458
GAUGHEN faced 4 batters in the 7th.
