CARSON, Calif. – The comeback ’Cats kept coming back. But Cal State Dominguez Hills kept answering. So even though the Chico State baseball team scored twice in the seventh and three times in the eighth they still came up short in a 13-5 loss in Carson on Friday.
The Wildcats entered the four-game series opener having come from behind in 10 of their 16 wins on the season, including seven in which they trailed by two or more runs. The offense did its best to add to those impressive numbers. But the pitching staff surrendered more runs than it had all season. It was the first time the Wildcats have allowed more than five runs since their California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) opener against Cal Poly Pomona way back on Feb. 18.
After the fifth-ranked Wildcats scored twice in the seventh to cut the lead to 4-2, the Toros answered with four runs in the bottom half of the inning. After they scored three runs in the eighth to trim it to 8-5, the Toros answered with five more runs in the bottom half of the inning to finally put them away.
Chico State fell to 16-4 overall and 10-3 in the CCAA. All 13 of those conference games and all but five overall have come on the road. Cal State Dominguez Hills, which advanced all the way to the NCAA Championship Tournament West Regional final last season, is surprisingly just 14-18 overall and 10-15 in the CCAA.
The Toros have played well with their backs against the wall over the last few weeks, however, and continued that trend Friday. They took three of four against conference title contenders Cal State L.A. and Cal State San Bernardino over the last two weekends. And the weekend prior to that they split a four-game series against 10th-ranked UC San Diego.
The Toros’ terrible start can be traced to their spotty defense. They had committed a CCAA-worst 54 errors entering Friday’s action. But their defense was an important piece of their success Friday. The Wildcats were on the doorstep of the lead in the third inning. Ben Manlove had doubled and moved to second on Michael Schultz’s sacrifice bunt. He looked like he was safe on TJ Yasuhara’s squeeze bunt. He was called out, however, and then the relay throw beat Yasuhara to first for a debilitating inning-ending double play.
The Toros also made all the routine plays. They did not commit an error for just the sixth time this season.
Chico State starter Kevin Brahney pitched well aside from two big mistakes. He surrendered a two out, two-run homer to reigning CCAA Player of the Week Kevin Pillar in the third. And in the sixth he surrendered his only free pass of the game, leading two the two-out RBI-double that followed. The Toros’ other run against him came in the fourth, but a fly ball lost in the sun keyed that rally.
Brahney, who fell to 0-2 with the loss, allowed four runs on seven hits in six frames while striking out eight.
Chico State’s relief corps struggled. Stephen Thompson was responsible for all four Dominguez Hills runs in the seventh. Bryn Calhoun and Scott Newberry allowed a combined five runs in the eighth.
The Wildcats finally broke through in the seventh after trailing 4-0. Matt Anderson followed Adrian Bringas’ one-out base hit with a double down the right field line to put runners on second and third. Shane Kroker’s single plated Bringas and Anderson scored on Dillion Usiak’s sacrifice fly.
That cut the lead to 4-2, but the Toros tried to put them away again, breaking the game open with four runs in the bottom half of the inning.
The Wildcats were not ready to concede anything. Schultz set the tone in the eighth with a leadoff single. Yasuhara also singled, setting the stage for Cody Foster’s two-run triple to right field. Foster scored on Bringas’ sacrifice fly with one down to cut the lead to 8-5.
Returning All-Americans Kevin Pillar and Able Medina did much of the damage for the Toros. Pillar, the reigning CCAA Player of the Week, went 3-for-4 with a homer, double, and three RBI. Medina was 2-for-4 with a grand slam. The Wildcats intentionally walked Medina in the seventh, but Jonathan Keener answered the challenge with a three-run homer.
Shane Youngdale (4-2) went seven-plus innings to earn the win for the Toros and Danny Toros got the last four outs for his second save.
Foster and Yasuhara notched two hits apiece for the Wildcats.
The series continues Saturday with a doubleheader scheduled to start at 11 AM and concludes with a single game Sunday at 11.
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