CHICO – The Chico State baseball team will play 40 of its 51 scheduled games this season against California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) competition. Because the CCAA is unquestionably the toughest conference in the West Region and one of the toughest in the nation, that will give the Wildcats plenty of opportunities to prove themselves to the committee that will select the four teams from the West that will advance to the NCAA Championship Tournament. But this weekend’s four-game home series against Central Washington affords the Wildcats one of just two opportunities they have all season to flex their muscles against a West Region competitor from outside of the conference.
The Wildcats of Chico State will take on the Wildcats of Central Washington in a doubleheader Saturday at 2 and another double-dip Sunday morning at 11. All four games will be available locally on ESPN Radio 101.7 FM and 1340 AM, or by clicking on the Wildcat Webcast at www.chicowildcats.com.
Chico State enters the weekend 6-2 and ranked No. 16 in the nation. This will mark their first non-conference action of the season. The Wildcats are coming off a series split at then-No. 3 UC San Diego.
Central Washington is 2-4, having split a four-game series with Puget Sound before losing to Saint Martin’s (10-3) and Western Oregon (6-4) at last weekend’s Guardian Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning Tournament hosted by Lewis-Clark State in Lewiston, Idaho. The Wildcats were picked to finish second in the GNAC in a preseason poll of its coaches.
Chico State has had great success against GNAC opposition. They’re 52-11 overall and 46-6 at home against teams from that conference. The Wildcats are 2-1 all time against Central Washington. They split a doubleheader in 1993 and won 10-6 in 1994 – Lindsay Meggs’ first season.
This weekend marks the start of a stretch of 10 straight home games for the Wildcats. They’ll host a four-game CCAA series against Cal Poly Pomona March 3-7 and a non-conference doubleheader against Simpson University on March 9. Chico State will then play 15 of its next 21 on the road before wrapping up the regular season with 12 straight games at Nettleton Stadium.
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