CHICO, Calif. – The Chico State baseball team continued to inch toward their 13th postseason berth in a row by completing a four-game series sweep of Cal State Dominguez Hills with a 6-1 victory Sunday afternoon at Nettleton Stadium. And this season, every inch counts.
The Wildcats, now 32-12 overall and 21-10 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) moved a half game ahead of Cal State Stanislaus for third place in the conference standings with the win. They trail second-place UC San Diego by a half game and first-place Sonoma State by two-and-a-half games. They also stretched their lead over fifth-place Cal State L.A. by three games. Barring a complete collapse by Stanislaus, four of those teams will qualify for the CCAA Championship Tournament. The Wildcats control their own destiny and would assure themselves a spot with four wins at Cal State San Bernardino May 2-4.
Chico State, ranked No. 21 in the nation and No. 5 in the West Region entering the weekend, also helped its cause in the race for six NCAA Championship Tournament berths available in the west behind the solid pitching of starter Joel Garcia and reliever Kyle Woodruff. Garcia allowed just one run on six hits in six innings of work. He struck out six and walked only one to improve to 4-1 on the season. Woodruff allowed just one hit and one walk in the final three frames to collect his second save of the season.
Nick Dingman led Chico State’s offense with three hits and a pair of runs batted in. Shane Farmer also notched two hits, while Kyle Eveland. Trevor Moore, and Cody Dee drove in a run apiece.
Cody Puckett went 3-for-5 with a double and a stolen base for Dominguez Hills, but no one else on the Toros roster registered more than one hit. Cal State Dominguez Hills, which entered the series winners of seven of its last 10 games, is now one loss or one Cal State Stanislaus victory away from being eliminated from postseason play. The Toros are now 19-31 overall and 15-17 in the CCAA.
Chico State got on the board early against Dominguez Hills starter David Leyva, plating three runs in the second. Matt Bitker walked to lead off the inning, and after moving to second on a wild pitch, came around to score on Dingman’s double down the right field line. Farmer’s infield single put runners on the corners, and Moore hit a sacrifice fly to right field to bring him home. Eveland’s double down the left field line scored the speedy Farmer from first base to make it 3-0.
The Wildcats added to their lead with two more runs in the third. Jimmy Dodos led off the inning with a single and then stole second base. After Bitker was hit by a pitch, Dee and Dingman cracked consecutive RBI-singles to stretch the lead to 5-0.
Eveland reached on an error in the fourth, moved to third on Joey Burke’s base hit, and then scored when Dodos grounded into a double play to give Garcia a 6-0 cushion to work with. The junior right-hander took advantage. He scattered four hits through the first five innings and didn’t allow a runner to reach third.
Cal State Dominguez Hills finally broke through with a run in the sixth. Brian Sturgis struck out swinging, but reached first base safely with one out on a wild pitch. Kevin Pillar then reached on a fielders’ choice, moved to third on Carlos Leyva’s base hit, and came around to score on Ryan Ayers single to center field. Garcia got Candelario Flores to ground into a double play to end the inning, however.
Woodruff allowed a hit and a run in the seventh, but struck out Sturgis with two runners on to end the threat. He then retired the Toros in order over the final two frames to seal the win.
Chico State will play its final home games in a doubleheader against Patten College Monday, April 28, at 3 p.m. They’ll finish the regular season on the road at Cal State San Bernardino May 2-4.
Box Score
Chico State Wildcats
CSU Dominguez Hills at Chico State
Apr 20, 2008 at Chico, Calif. (Nettleton Stadium)
CSU Dominguez Hills 1 (19-31,15-17 CCAA)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
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FLORES, Candelario lf.... 5 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 2
HARTMAN, Daniel 3b....... 5 0 1 0 0 0 0 4 0
PUCKETT, Cody ss......... 5 0 3 0 0 0 1 3 0
ALIA, Jon 1b............. 3 0 0 0 1 0 11 1 1
BLACKWELL, Eric rf....... 3 0 0 0 1 1 2 0 4
STURGIS, Brian c......... 4 0 0 0 0 4 3 0 2
PILLAR, Kevin cf......... 4 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0
LEYVA, Carlos dh......... 4 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0
AYERS, Ryan 2b........... 4 0 1 1 0 1 4 5 2
LEYVA, David p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
PHILLIPS, Matt p........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
MARFOGLIA, Mark p....... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
FAIR, David p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
TORRES, Danny p......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Totals................... 37 1 7 1 2 8 24 13 11
Chico State 6 (32-12,21-10 CCAA)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
BURKE, Joey lf........... 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
DODOS, Jimmy rf.......... 4 1 1 0 0 1 4 0 0
RINGER, Bret 3b.......... 4 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1
BITKER, Matt dh.......... 1 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 1
DEE, Cody c.............. 3 0 1 1 1 0 6 1 0
DINGMAN, Nick 1b......... 4 1 3 2 0 0 9 0 0
FARMER, Shane cf......... 4 1 2 0 0 0 1 0 1
MOORE, Trevor 2b......... 2 0 0 1 0 0 5 0 3
DeCOITO, Travis 2b...... 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
EVELAND, Kyle ss......... 4 1 1 1 0 1 1 7 0
GARCIA, Joel p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
WOODRUFF, Kyle p........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals................... 31 6 10 5 3 2 27 10 7
Score by Innings R H E
-------------------------------------------
CSU Dominguez Hills. 000 001 000 - 1 7 1
Chico State......... 032 100 00X - 6 10 2
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E - PUCKETT, C(29); RINGER(6); MOORE(2). DP - CSUDH 2. LOB - CSUDH 11; Chico
7. 2B - PUCKETT, C(11); DINGMAN(3); EVELAND(5). HBP - BURKE; BITKER. SF -
MOORE(1). SB - HARTMAN(5); PUCKETT, C(21); LEYVA, C(12); BURKE(5);
DODOS(15); FARMER(10); EVELAND(4).
CSU Dominguez Hills IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP
--------------------------------------------------
LEYVA, David........ 1.2 3 3 3 1 0 7 9 -
PHILLIPS, Matt...... 0.2 3 2 2 0 0 5 6 -
MARFOGLIA, Mark..... 1.2 3 1 0 0 0 7 7 -
FAIR, David......... 3.0 1 0 0 2 2 9 12 -
TORRES, Danny....... 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 -
Chico State IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP
--------------------------------------------------
GARCIA, Joel........ 6.0 6 1 1 1 6 27 28 -
WOODRUFF, Kyle...... 3.0 1 0 0 1 2 10 11 -
Win - GARCIA, Jo (4-1). Loss - LEYVA, D (1-5). Save - WOODRUFF (2).
WP - LEYVA, D(6); GARCIA, Jo(2). HBP - by PHILLIPS, M (BITKER); by FAIR (BURKE).
Inherited runners/scored: PHILLIPS, M 1/0; MARFOGLIA 2/0. Pitches/strikes: None.
Umpires - HP: Jamie Still 1B: Gary FiFablo 2B: Peter Durfee
Start: 12:00 Time: 2:39 Attendance: 323
Game notes:
Wildcats complete series sweep to move one-half game ahead of Cal State
Stanislaus into third place in the CCAA. They trail second-place UC San
Diego by a half game and first-place Sonoma State by two and a half games.
The Wildcats are 23-4 at home.
