SEASIDE – Eric Angerer waited patiently. Then he pounced when the got the opportunity. The freshman first baseman has been used mostly as a late-inning defensive replacement, taking over for a number of different players Head Coach Dave Taylor has run out to the position this season. But Angerer got the chance to start Sunday and took full advantage. His two-run single in the seventh inning gave the Wildcats the lead for good in a 6-3 victory against Cal State Monterey Bay.
Angerer practiced with the team as a redshirt last season. He’s finally gotten a chance to play this season, having appeared in all but one game. But he entered Sunday’s action with only six at-bats. His ninth proved to be his biggest one yet.
The Wildcats trailed 2-0 for most of the game before rallying in the seventh. The score was tied 2-2 and runners were on second and third when Angerer strolled to the plate. He took a curveball and a fastball for strikes, and then with the count 1-and-2, reached out and grounded an opposite field single through the right side, giving the Wildcats the lead for good.
Chico State took three of four from the Otters on the weekend to improve to 11-2 overall and 6-2 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA). Cal State Monterey Bay, which split a four-game series with defending CCAA champion UC San Diego last weekend, fell to 6-10 overall and 3-5 in the CCAA with the loss.
Chico State true freshman starter Nick Baker improved to 3-0 with the win. He gave up three runs on just four hits in seven innings of work. Sheldon Lechuga pitched a 1-2-3 eighth and Juan Guerra pitched around a one-out single in the ninth for his sixth save of the season.
The day didn’t start well for Baker. He hit the second batter of the game and the third, Danny Nelson, homered over the left field wall. But he gave up just one more hit through the first six innings and in the top-half of the sixth the offense finally gave him some runs to work with. Cal State Monterey Bay starter Aaron Appino (0-3) allowed just two hits the first two times through the order. But he third time through, in the top of the sixth, the Wildcats scored four times to take the lead.
Justin Manci was hit by a pitch leading off the inning and Jackson Evans singled. Adrian Bringas muscled a base hit just over the head of the second baseman Nelson to break the Wildcats’ scoreboard seal. Matt Anderson re-loaded the bases when he was hit by a pitch and Ian McKay’s squeeze bunt scored Bringas to make it 2-2.
That set the stage for the biggest hit of Angerer’s collegiate career.
Anderson’s RBI-single capped a two-out rally in the seventh that stretched the lead to 5-2. But the Otters’ offense came to life in the bottom half of the seventh. Nelson doubled off the wall leading off the frame and Jared DeCastro traded places with him, trimming the lead to 5-3. Alex Mangubat’s one-out fly ball to left looked deep enough to plate DeCastro, who had moved to third on a groundout. But it wasn’t. McKay caught it and then threw a strike to home plate when Ben Manlove caught it and applied the tag to end the threat.
The Wildcats got an insurance run in the ninth when Bringas led off with a single and scored on Cody Foster’s squeeze bunt.
Foster, Anderson and Bringas finished with two hits apiece. Jackson Evans reached base three times and scored twice.
Chico State, which has played eight of its first 13 on the road, will be back on the road at Western Oregon for a four-games series next weekend. The Wolves are Chico State’s long-time West Region rivals and picked to win the Great Northwest Athletic Conference for the 10th season in a row. The series begins with a single game Friday at 2 PM.
