ROHNERT PARK – Ben Manlove may be a freshman No. 9 hitter and Casey Edelbrock may have been the Chico State baseball team’s closer three weeks ago, but the pair tossed expectations and labels out the window to lead the Wildcats to an important 3-2 victory over Sonoma State to wrap up a four-game series Sunday. Sonoma State won the day’s first game 2-0.
Manlove singled home Adrian Bringas with two down in the sixth inning for the game-winning run, making a winner out of Edelbrock, who fired a complete-game five hitter, striking out four and walking none. The win gave Chico State three in the four-game series against their archrivals as they held on to sole possession of third place in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) standings, a game ahead of Cal State San Bernardino and two games behind Cal State Dominguez Hills.
Chico State, ranked No. 21 in the nation and No. 3 in the West Region, is now 23-11 overall and 18-10 in the CCAA.
Sonoma State fell further out of contention in the conference at 16-20 overall and 9-15 in the CCAA. The Seawolves, who have not finished below .500 in conference play in 13 years, have just 16 games remaining on their CCAA slate to keep that streak alive.
Edelbrock, who leads Chico State with four saves, made his third start of the season and responded with his second complete-game victory to improve to 3-2 on the season. He surrendered an unearned run in the first and a solo home run in the third, but allowed just two hits to the last 16 batters he faced and never allowed a baserunner to reach third base following that solo shot.
Michael Murphy’s two-run single in the second briefly gave Chico State the lead before the Seawolves tied it with that home run. Kevin Seaver banged out two hits for the Wildcats, and Bringas went 1-for-2 and scored twice.
Game one starter Scott Greene, like Edelbrock, put Chico State in prime position to win. He surrendered a two-run homer in the first following an error. But after that, Greene didn’t allow another hit until two were down in the fifth. He went seven innings, allowing just three hits and three walks while striking out seven, but took the loss to fall to 2-2.
Chico State’s offense never got to Seawolves starter Scott Alexander. The transfer from Pepperdine had the Wildcats tied up in knots, allowing just four hits and a walk in eight innings of work. He struck out seven, and to provide an idea of just how good he was, he struck out Chico State leading hitter Adam Arakawa looking three times. Arakawa had gone down without a fight just four times in his previous 110 at-bats this season.
The Wildcats will be back in action next weekend when the travel to face Cal State L.A. for a four-game series beginning Friday at 6 p.m. The Wildcats will return home to play their final 14 regular season games at home after that.
GAME 1 BOX SCORE
GAME 2 BOX SCORE
