CHICO – With 16 wins in 18 home games this season, Chico State’s baseball team has left Nettleton Stadium happy more often than not this season. Their joy reached new heights on Thursday, however, after they swept archrival Sonoma State in dominating fashion, winning the first game 6-1 and the second 11-5.
Michael Gleason allowed one run in seven innings and struck out nine in the opener, improving to 5-0 on the season. And Kevin Brahney came out of the bullpen to allow just one run in three-and-two-thirds innings to earn his first Chico State save in the nightcap. Freshman catcher Ben Manlove had five hits on the day to lead the Wildcats, while Jordan Larson, Michael Murphy, and Adam Arakawa banged out four apiece.
Chico State, ranked No. 21 in the nation and No. 3 in the West Region, improved to 22-10 overall and 17-9 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA). In the meantime, the Wildcats struck a serious blow to Sonoma State’s chances of working its way back into the playoff picture. The Seawolves came in hot, winners of six of their last eight conference games, but fell to 8-14 in the CCAA and 15-19 overall Thursday.
Chico State moved into sole possession of third place in the conference standings, a half game ahead of Cal State San Bernardino and a game back of Cal State Dominguez Hills. Sonoma State dropped into ninth place.
Gleason set the tone early in the day for the Wildcats, striking out the side looking in the first inning of the opener. His first five outs of the day came via strikeouts and his nine strikeouts matched his career high set last Friday against San Francisco State. Interestingly, 15 of those 18 strikeouts were looking.
The Wildcats grabbed the early lead when Jordan Larson led off with a single and came around to score on Kevin Seaver’s base hit. Sonoma State tied the game in the third on Ryan Stevens’ run-scoring single up the middle following Max Shupe’s double. But Chico State quickly took control with four runs in the bottom half of the inning.
Manlove singled and Larson walked before Murphy’s sacrifice bunt was misplayed by Seawolves starter Ian Ocon to load the bases with no outs. Arakawa singled home Manlove, and when right fielderAustin Hogans bobbled the ball momentarily, Larson raced home. An RBI single by Jackson Evans and Johnny Hay’s RBI-double came later in the inning to give the Wildcats a 5-1 lead.
The Wildcats tallied the final run of the game the following inning. Manlove led off with a double, moved to third on a wild pitch, and scored on Larson’s squeeze bunt.
Manlove finished 3-for-3 and reached base a fourth time on a walk. Larson was 2-for-3 and Arakawa was 2-for-4.
On the mound, Jordan Lindebaum followed Gleason’s lead by striking out two and allowing just one hit in an inning of work, and Sheldon Lechuga wrapped things up with a 1-2-3 ninth, striking out one.
Ocon (0-2) took the loss for Sonoma State, allowing five runs – three earned – on six hits and two walks in three innings of work. Casey Slate pitched well in relief, surrendering just one run on six hits in five frames.
The Wildcats jumped all over Seawolves’ ace Thomas Lee in the second game, pounding out eight runs on 11 hits in his five innings of work. Lee, who entered the game with a 3.12 ERA, fell to 4-3 with the loss. Chico State starter Scott Nartker also allowed 11 hits, but he struck out seven to minimize the damage. He gave up four runs, all earned, and earned the victory to improve to 2-2.
Brahney got the two biggest outs of the game, however. He entered with the bases loaded and Chico State nursing a 6-4 lead with one out in the sixth and didn’t allow a run. First he got cleanup hitter Ryan Stevens to ground out to Kevin Seaver, who threw home to get the force out. Then he struck out Randy Wells on three pitches to end the threat.
Brahney worked around a one-out error in the seventh and struck out two in the eighth before allowing a run on one hit in the ninth. He struck out five while allowing only two hits and a walk.
After the Seawolves scored a run in the first, the Wildcats answered with four in the bottom half of the frame. Larson doubled, moved to second on Murphy’s grounder, and scored on an grounder off the bat of Arakawa. Seaver got things started again with a two-out single, moved to second on Evans’ base hit, and both runners scored on Hay’s triple to the right-centerfield gap.
Sonoma State would eventually tie the game at 4-4 with a run in the third and two more in the fourth, but the Wildcats re-took the lead in the bottom of the fourth. Manlove got things going with a two-out infield single, moved to third on Larson’s double, and Murphy plated both runners with a double to right-center to make it 6-4.
The Wildcats tacked on a run in the fifth on Adrian Bringas’ RBI-single and two more on Seaver’s two-run single in the sixth to make it 9-4. They added two more insurance runs in the eighth on Murphy’s RBI-double and Seaver’s sacrifice fly.
The four-game series concludes with a doubleheader at Sonoma State Saturday at noon.
GAME 1 BOX SCORE
GAME 2 BOX SCORE
