ROHNERT PARK, Calif. - The Chico State baseball team was on the brink of an exhillarating series victory against 15th-ranked Sonoma State. Then the bottom fell out. The 15th-ranked Seawolves rallied from seven runs down, tying the game on Ian Bridges' three-run homer with two down in the ninth, and then won it 11-10 on Cameron Cook's walk-off single in the bottom of the 10th to complete a doubleheader sweep that dropped the Wildcats from fifth place to tied for seventh in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) standings with only eight games to play.
Sonoma State won the first game of the day 5-3. Bret Ringer's grand slam in the fifth inning of game two put Chico State ahead 9-2 in the fifth inning, and it seemed as though a split might be at hand. A split would have given the Wildcats their third win in four games against Sonoma State this season and also would have left them in fifth place just one game behind Cal State State Dominguez Hills in the race for the fourth and final CCAA Championship Tournament berth.
Instead, the Wildcats now trail the Toros by two games and also trail fifth-place Cal State San Bernardino, sixth-place Cal State Stanislaus, and are tied for seventh place with Cal Poly Pomona.
Chico State, which fell to 24-19 overall and 14-14 in the CCAA, will play five non-conference games before wrapping up its regular season with a four-game home series against Cal State Stanislaus April 24-26 and a four-game series at CSU Monterey Bay May 1-3.
Sonoma State improved to 26-11 overall and 18-10 in the CCAA. The Seawolves are in a second-place tie with Cal State L.A., two games ahead of fourth-place Cal State Dominguez Hills.
Sonoma State won the opening game by scoring four runs in the first inning - two on Bridges' two-run blast - against Chico State starter Jordan Lindebaum and then hanging on. Deven Braden and Ringer smacked RBI-hits in the second, and third, respectively, to trim the lead to 4-2.
Sonoma State added an insurance run in the fourth to make it 5-2, but Chico State reliever Mike Robbins came on to deal four-and-two-thirds innings of scoreless relief.
Chico State's offense had chances to come back, but stranded six runners on base in the final four innings. Jordan Larson's sacrifice fly in the sixth made it 5-3, but Kevin Seaver popped out with the bases loaded to end the inning.
The second game took a decidedly different tone from the start. The Wildcats took a 1-0 lead on Eric Stephen's RBI-single in the first. They stretched the lead to 4-1 after scraping three runs together in the third, one on a Cody Dee sacrifice fly and another on Ringer's RBI-single.
The Seawolves trimmed the lead to 4-2 before the Wildcats blew the game wide open in the fifth. Dodos drove in the first run with a single to right field, and two batters later, Ringer drilled a line-drive home run to left field to make it 9-2.
Sonoma State responded immediately with four runs in the bottom half of the inning, including a three-run homer off the bat of Kyle Jones (his second home run of the game), but Ian Waldron came on in relief and kept Chico State comfortably ahead until the end.
Sonoma State chased Waldron from the game in the ninth with a leadoff walk and a one-out single. Brian Fowler came on to strike out Jones for the second out, but Bridges greeted Ivan Gonzalez with a three-run homer to left field that tied the game.
Chico State was retired in order in the 10th, and then Cook's fly ball to right field eluded the dive of Dodos and easily plated Nick Ramos (on base after a one-out walk) with the winning run.
Ringer finished with five RBI for the Wildcats, while he, Larson, Adam Arakawa, and Dodos banged out two hits apiece.
GAME 1 BOX SCORE
GAME 2 BOX SCORE
