CHICO – The Chico State Wildcats have had their struggles at the plate over the past few weeks. It appears the antidote might just have been a healthy serving of Monterey Bay pitching.

Johnny Hay belted two home runs, Michael Murphy clubbed a three-run blast and the Wildcats received another outstanding outing from Michael Gleason as they walloped the Otters 18-2.

The Cats wasted little time in getting to Monterey Bay starter Patrick McClain. McClain, who entered the game with a 5.14 earned run average, saw that number escalate early on as the Cats scored three runs in the first inning on a single by Jordan Larson, a walk to Jackson Evans and run-scoring double off the bat of Hay.  A walk to Adam Arakawa loaded the bases and after Kevin Seaver went down swinging, Adrian Bringas brought home Evans and Hay with a single to left for the early 3-0 lead.

Chico plated three more in the second inning on a one-out walk to Larson and a RBI double into the right field corner off the bat of Murphy. Evans followed with a single that drove home Murphy. Evans was then thrown out trying to steal second base before Hay launched his 10th home run of the year deep over the left field fence.

Things only got worse for McClain in the third inning as the Otters defense fell apart. Two throwing errors by shortstop Ronnie Fhurong and a booted grounder at third helped the Wildcats put five more runs on the board.

Meanwhile, Gleason was cruising through the Otter lineup with relative ease, retiring the first nine hitters he faced. The Otters finally broke through with a single run in the fourth inning on a single by Nolan Murray, a sacrifice and a run-scoring single by Jacob Flores. Gleason worked five innings, allowing just one run on three hits while striking out seven to improve his season record to 7-1.

The Wildcats plated four more in the fourth, on back-to-back singles by Deven Braden and Ben Manlove and Murphy’s fifth home run of the season. One batter later, Hay launched his second round-tripper of the day to left.

The hit parade continued in the fifth as the Cats got a RBI double from Braden and a run-scoring single from Larson. Larson later bashed his second home run of the season, a monster shot far over the right field fence.

The two teams will face off again on Saturday afternoon in a doubleheader beginning at 12 noon.

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