CHICO, Calif. – Any notion that the Sonoma State baseball team’s No. 2 national ranking and 27-1 record have been built upon a relatively weak schedule was dismissed Friday night. The Seawolves handed 16th-ranked Chico State its worst home loss since 1994, 13-2, while tying a school record with their 22nd straight win Friday night at Nettleton Stadium. The Wildcats did not help themselves, committing five errors, their most since May 8, 2006.
The 11-run losing margin is Chico State’s largest at home since a 12-0 loss to San Francisco State on March 19, 1994. They last lost by 11 runs at UC San Diego, 15-4, on March 27, 2006.
Sonoma State improved to 28-1 overall and 15-0 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association with the victory. Chico State, which had its eight-game winning streak snapped, fell to 21-8 overall and 10-6 in the CCAA. The teams will face off again in Chico Saturday at noon before traveling to Rohnert Park for a noon doubleheader on Sunday.
Dave Herman led off the game with a home run and the Seawolves took advantage of a crucial Chico State error later in the inning to build a 3-0 lead. Two more Chico State errors in the third helped lead to three more Sonoma State runs and a 6-0 lead. Kyle Jones’ two-run single up the middle was the key hit in the inning.
That was more than enough offense for Sonoma State with ace southpaw Matt Means on the mound. Means allowed just one run in five frames to improve to 6-0 on the season. The southpaw who entered the game with an ERA of 1.08 scattered six hits and struck out five in five innings of work. Nick O’Brien allowed just one run on three hits and five strikeouts over the game’s final four frames to collect his first save of the season.
Chico State ace Pete Mickartz took the loss. He allowed eight runs, only four of which were earned, in five innings, falling to 7-2 on the season.
Haycock paced Sonoma State’s offense with four hits in five at-bats. Cameron Cook was 3-for-5, while five-through-eight hitters Mark Pestorich, Ian Bridges, Jones, and Thieme drove in two runs apiece.
Shane Farmer, the reigning CCAA Player of the week, went 3-for-4 to lead Chico State’s offense. He was the only Wildcats to record more than one hit. Cody Dee extended his hitting streak to 11 games and Jimmy Dodos extended his to nine games.
Box Score
Chico State Wildcats
#2 Sonoma State at #16 Chico State
Mar 28, 2008 at Chico, Calif. (Nettleton Stadium)
Sonoma State 13 (28-1,15-0 CCAA)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
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HERMAN, Dave 3b.......... 4 1 1 2 1 0 1 2 1
WALDEN, Robert ph/3b.... 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
HAYCOCK, Kris ss......... 5 3 4 1 1 1 2 2 0
COOK, Cameron dh......... 5 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 3
HOWELL, Trevor ph....... 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
McDANIEL, Tyrese lf...... 3 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1
HARMS, Derek lf......... 2 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0
PESTORICH, Mark rf....... 6 3 2 2 0 0 2 0 1
BRIDGES, Ian 1b.......... 3 1 1 2 0 1 8 1 0
JONES, Kyle cf........... 3 0 1 2 0 0 1 0 1
NOSTI, Nick ph/cf....... 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
THIEME, Konrad c......... 5 1 2 2 0 0 10 0 0
ADLER, David 2b.......... 4 0 1 1 0 0 1 3 2
MEANS, Matt p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
O'BRIEN, Nick p......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals................... 43 13 16 12 4 4 27 8 10
Chico State 2 (21-8,10-6 CCAA)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
BURKE, Joey lf........... 4 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 1
VICTOR, Nick lf......... 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2
DODOS, Jimmy rf.......... 3 0 1 0 0 0 5 1 0
NEWBERRY, Scott ph/rf... 2 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0
RINGER, Bret 3b.......... 2 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0
MOORE, Trevor ph/3b..... 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
BITKER, Matt dh.......... 4 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0
DEE, Cody c.............. 3 0 1 0 0 2 3 1 0
MEAGHER, Josh c......... 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
DINGMAN, Nick 1b......... 2 0 1 0 1 0 7 0 2
SEAVER, Kevin 1b........ 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0
BOSCARINO, Phil 2b....... 2 0 1 0 1 0 1 2 0
DeCOITO, Travis 2b...... 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0
FARMER, Shane cf......... 4 0 3 0 0 0 2 0 0
EVELAND, Kyle ss......... 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 4 6
LIEDEL, Nick ss......... 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0
MICKARTZ, Pete p......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
BELLANICH, Austin p..... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
SAVE, Bryan p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
GARCIA, Jr. p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals................... 36 2 9 1 3 10 27 12 11
Score by Innings R H E
-------------------------------------------
Sonoma State........ 303 025 000 - 13 16 1
Chico State......... 000 010 010 - 2 9 5
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E - WALDEN(5); DEE(4); BOSCARINO(8); EVELAND 2(10); LIEDEL(4). DP - Chico 1.
LOB - SSU 10; Chico 11. 2B - PESTORICH(9); THIEME(6); DINGMAN(4). HR -
HERMAN(6). HBP - BRIDGES; ADLER. SF - BRIDGES(3); BITKER(4).
Sonoma State IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP
--------------------------------------------------
MEANS, Matt......... 5.0 6 1 1 3 5 20 24 -
O'BRIEN, Nick....... 4.0 3 1 1 0 5 16 16 -
Chico State IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP
--------------------------------------------------
MICKARTZ, Pete...... 5.0 8 8 4 2 1 24 28 -
BELLANICH, Austin... 0.2 4 5 5 2 2 6 9 -
SAVE, Bryan......... 2.1 2 0 0 0 1 9 9 -
GARCIA, Jr.......... 1.0 2 0 0 0 0 4 4 -
Win - MEANS (6-0). Loss - MICKARTZ (7-2). Save - O'BRIEN (1).
WP - MEANS(5); BELLANICH(5). HBP - by MICKARTZ (BRIDGES); by BELLANICH (ADLER).
PB - THIEME(5); DEE(5). Inherited runners/scored: SAVE 3/1. Pitches/strikes: None.
Umpires - HP: Scott Letendre 1B: Gary DiFabio 2B: James Lamb
Start: 6:00 Time: 3:16 Attendance: 305
Game notes:
Sonoma State ties school record with its 22nd straight win. The Wildcats
entered the game on an 8-game winning streak. Chico State's five errors are
the most since May 8, 2006. The margin of defeat is the largest since a 15-
4 loss at UC San Diego on Marcy 27, 2006.
