STOCKTON – The Chico State baseball team’s California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Championship Tournament run came to an end with an 8-4 loss to Cal State Dominguez Hills Friday night. However, the Wildcats’ thrilling 16-15 come-from-behind win against Cal State San Bernardino earlier in the day likely means they’ll be continuing postseason play at the NCAA Championship Tournament beginning next weekend.
The Wildcats, now 35-18 overall, will learn their fate when the NCAA Tournament field is revealed Sunday at 7 p.m.
In Friday night’s loss to Cal State Dominguez Hills, the Wildcats fell behind with a five-run third and never recovered. They scored a run in the fifth and two in the sixth to pull to within 5-3, but the Toros scratched across runs in each of the last three frames to hold them off.
Michael Murphy hit a two-run homer for the Wildcats, while Kevin Seaver, Adrian Bringas, and Tony Hernandez notched two hits apiece. But Cal State Dominguez Hills’ Shane Youngdale fired a complete-game nine hitter to earn the win, improving to 6-4. Youngdale struck out six and didn’t walk a hitter.
Starter Bryn Calhoun (1-1) took the loss for Chico State. He surrendered five runs (four earned) on six hits in three innings of work. Phillip Hymas, Jordan Lindebaum, Sheldon Lechuga, and Scott Nartker all pitched effectively in relief.
Chico State began to chip away at the 5-0 deficit with a run in the fifth. Seaver’s double set things up and Hernandez delivered an RBI-single.
Murphy then drew them as close as they would get with a two-run opposite field home run that scored Larson after he was hit by a pitch.
Dominguez Hills’ lead grew to 8-4 before the Wildcats tried to make another miraculous comeback in the ninth. Adam Arakawa and Seaver planted a seed of hope, and when Bringas pop-up to no-man’s land in right field fell in to score Arakawa, it seemed they might be putting something special together again.
However, pinch hitter Hunter Buckmore grounded out for the second out and Ben Manlove grounded out to end the game.
Cal State Dominguez Hills, which will now attempt to beat UC San Diego twice on Saturday to claim the tournament title, improved to 39-17 with the win.
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Friday’s First Game: Chico State 16, Cal State San Bernardino 15
This was the lead: “If the Chico State baseball team is selected for next weekend’s NCAA Championship Tournament West Regional, their ghastly showing at the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Championship Tournament will be quickly forgotten. Unfortunately for the Wildcats, that IF turned into a very big one following their 15-5 loss to Cal State San Bernardino in an elimination game at Klein Family Field on the campus of University of the Pacific Friday.”
That was just the lead. The entire story was written. After all, this Sports Information Director had nothing better to do while waiting for the torturous game to end.
Then the Chico State baseball team re-wrote it.
The Wildcats rallied for 11 runs over the final two innings, capped by Murphy’s walk off RBI-single in the ninth, for a come-from-behind win rivaled in program history only by their comeback to win the 1997 College World Series in terms of importance and excitement.
So here’s the new lead: Are you kidding me?
Cal State San Bernardino scored seven runs in the second and built a lead as large as 15-5. Their 23-hit attack was the most against a Chico State team since the fifth game of 1996. Amazingly, it wasn’t enough.
Murphy’s two-run homer sparked a six-run eighth that got the Wildcats within shouting distance at 15-11. It seemed that for the first time since the first inning, they really believed they would win.
Then they went out and did it in the ninth. Jackson Evans singled and Johnny Hay doubled leading off the frame before coming around to score on Arakawa’s opposite-field double. That brought the tying run to the plate in the form of Seaver. He was hit by a pitch, setting the stage from some unlikely actors in this dramatic theatre. Buckmore and Hernandez, who had entered the game in the seventh inning when it seemed out of reach, were due up next.
Buckmore laced a single to right field, plating Arakawa to make it 15-14. The true freshman Hernandez then took a veteran-like at-bat, slashing a base hit to right to load the bases.
It was a vital knock because the next batter, Kyle Leon, grounded into a 6-4-3 double play that brought the tying run home.
Cal State San Bernardino Head Coach Don Parnell chose to intentionally walk Larson, who reached base for the seventh time in the game, to face Murphy, who was a double shy of the cycle. Murphy was more than satisfied with his base hit. He drilled a hard ground ball up the middle setting off a wild celebration that culminated with Head Coach Dave Taylor in the middle of a mosh pit in left field.
That celebration will likely continue when the NCAA Championship Tournament field is announced Sunday night at 7 o’clock, thanks to their improbable win. The Wildcats entered the weekend ranked No. 3 in the West and Cal State San Bernardino was No. 5. The top four teams will go.
The top of Chico State’s order and a trio of relief pitchers were the foundation the win was built upon. Larson, Murphy, and Evans, the Wildcats’ 1-2-3 hitters, finished with four hits apiece and combined to reach base 15 times in 18 chances.
And while Chico State was mounting its comeback, Lechuga, Hymas, and Scott Greene combined on two-and-a-third innings of scoreless relief, finally derailing the freight train that had been the Cal State San Bernardino offense.
Prior to that, only Ian Waldron had pitched effectively for Chico State, limiting the Coyotes to one run in three innings. But that one run was the 10th of the game for San Bernardino, giving them a 10-3 lead in the fifth.
After the lead grew to 12-3 in the top of the sixth, the Wildcats put their first crooked number on the board. Larson walked and scored on Murphy’s triple and Murphy scored on Evans’ base hit to trim the lead to 12-5.
But any smiles were quickly wiped away when the Coyotes struck for three runs in the seventh.
The smiles returned, or at least a few smirks, in the eighth. Larson led off with a single and Murphy cracked a long home run over the 35-foot wall to the left of the 405-mark in left-center field. Evans followed with a triple and scored on Hay’s sacrifice fly to make it 15-8. That was still the score with none on and two down. The Wildcats were four outs and seven runs away from elimination.
Thankfully, they had a little two-out magic up their sleeves. Seaver and Buckmore singled and Hernandez drew a walk to load the bases. Leon cashed in with a hard smash past the second baseman that plated two and Larson followed with an RBI-single to center to trim the lead to 15-11, setting the stage for the ninth.
Murphy drove in a four runs in the game, while Larson, Hay, Arakawa and Leon knocked in two apiece.
Greene got the win to improve to 5-3 in his first relief appearance since February.
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