RIVERSIDE, Calif. – The Chico State baseball team moved one step closer to earning its 13th consecutive postseason appearance with a 7-1 victory over Cal State San Bernardino at Riverside Community College Friday. Freshman Pete Mickartz went the route, allowing only one run on eight hits, as the Wildcats lowered their magic number to clinch a spot in the CCAA Championship Tournament to two games over Cal State Stanislaus and Cal State L.A. with three games remaining in the regular season. Heading into Saturday's doubleheaders, any combination of two wins and Cal State Stanislaus or Cal State L.A. losses would clinch the berth for the Wildcats, who entered the weekend ranked No. 13 in the nation and No. 4 in the West Region.
Chico State improved to 35-12 overall and 22-10 in the CCAA as Mickartz kept the Coyotes off balance all day with a sharp slider and a solid defense behind him. Just the second 10-game freshman winner in Chico State history, Mickartz improved to 11-3. He kept the Coyotes off the board until catcher Chris Olsen’s RBI single in the bottom of the ninth. Olsen was a thorn in Mickartz’ side all afternoon, going three for four with a booming double off of the wall in the fifth.
Matt Long (6-7) pitched well in losing his seventh game for the Coyotes. He pitched eight innings, allowing four earned runs and striking out four. San Bernardino fell to 23-24 overall and 14-19 in the CCAA.
In the first, Chico pushed a run across without getting a hit. Leadoff man Joey burke walked, stole second, went to third on a throwing error by Olsen and scored on an RBI groundout by Bret Ringer. In the second, Chico scored a run on Kyle Eveland's ground ball and another on Shane Farmer’s steal of home on the back end of a double steal.
Burke and Jimmy Dodos smacked back-to-back singles to start a two-run fifth. Josh Meagher's single drove in one run and Cody Dee's squeeze bunt later in the frame made it 5-0. Ringer and Meagher singled in runs in the top of the ninth to cap Chico State's scoring.
The Wildcats and Coyotes face off in a double header Saturday at noon and conclude the four-game series on Sunday.
Box Score
Cal State San Bernardino Baseball
Chico State Univ. at CSU San Bernardino
May 02, 2008 at CSU San Bernardino (Riverside CC EvansPk)
Chico State Univ. 7 (35-12,22-10 ccaa)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
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BURKE, Joey lf........... 3 2 1 0 1 0 3 0 1
DODOS, Jimmy rf.......... 5 1 1 0 0 1 4 0 0
RINGER, Bret 3b.......... 4 1 2 2 1 1 0 2 0
MEAGHER, Josh dh......... 5 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 1
DEE, Cody c.............. 2 1 0 1 0 1 7 0 1
SEAVER, Kevin 1b......... 5 0 1 0 0 1 7 0 3
FARMER, Shane cf......... 3 1 2 0 0 0 4 0 0
MOORE, Trevor 2b......... 4 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0
EVELAND, Kyle ss......... 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 5 2
MICKARTZ, Pete p......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Totals................... 33 7 10 5 3 4 27 8 8
CSU San Bernardino 1 (23-24,14-19 ccaa)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
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MINJARES, Mike ss........ 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0
HAYNES, Billy 2b......... 4 0 0 0 0 1 3 5 1
HAAS, Johnnie cf......... 4 0 1 0 0 0 4 0 0
KLUG, Jason 1b........... 4 0 1 0 0 1 10 0 1
LeFAY, Chris dh.......... 4 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0
VALENZUELA, Drew 3b...... 3 0 2 0 1 0 1 2 0
WATSON, Justin lf........ 4 0 0 0 0 3 2 0 2
OLSEN, Chris c........... 4 0 3 1 0 0 4 2 1
PRATT, Nathan rf......... 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
TAPIA, Andrew rf........ 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 3
LONG, Matt p............. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
CUEVA, Theron p......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Totals................... 35 1 8 1 1 6 27 14 8
Score by Innings R H E
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Chico State Univ.... 120 020 002 - 7 10 0
CSU San Bernardino.. 000 000 001 - 1 8 1
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E - OLSEN. LOB - Chico State 8; COYOTES 8. 2B - HAAS; VALENZUELA; OLSEN. HBP
- DEE 2; FARMER; EVELAND. SH - BURKE; DEE. SB - BURKE; FARMER; KLUG. CS -
FARMER.
Chico State Univ. IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
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MICKARTZ, Pete...... 9.0 8 1 1 1 6 35 36
CSU San Bernardino IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
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LONG, Matt.......... 8.0 8 5 4 3 4 29 35
CUEVA, Theron....... 1.0 2 2 2 0 0 4 7
Win - MICKARTZ (11-3). Loss - LONG (6-7). Save - None.
HBP - by LONG (DEE); by LONG (FARMER); by CUEVA (EVELAND); by CUEVA (DEE).
Umpires - HP: Lamb 1B: Smith 2B: Gimbi
Start: 3 p.m. Time: 2:23 Attendance: 110
