If the members of the Chico State baseball team needed a bit of motivation following their doubleheader sweep at the hands of Cal State San Bernardino Saturday, they could simply to turn on their car stereos on the way home and listen to the San Francisco Giants receive their 2010 World Series rings. The Wildcats have performed like College World Series contenders for much of the season, but had perhaps their most disappointing day of 2011 in losses of 8-6 and 4-3 to the Coyotes at Nettleton Stadium.
The seventh-ranked Wildcats remain atop the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) standings at 15-6 despite the losses. They’re 21-7 overall. Cal State San Bernardino kept itself in the title hunt, improving to 15-14 overall and 12-9 in the CCAA.
The strong defense, aggressive pitching and timely hitting that led the Wildcats to the top of the conference standings was simply not there Saturday. The Wildcats walked a season-high six hitters and committed two costly errors in the opener. Four of the six Cal State San Bernardino batters who walked eventually scored and the two runs the Coyotes scored in the third came after catcher Ben Manlove was cited for catchers’ interference with two down.
A costly error then played a large role in the Coyotes’ four-run sixth in the second game. A one-out grounder to short was misplayed by TJ Yasuhara, who was hoping to start an inning-ending double play. One run scored on the play and three more would follow.
The one winning trait that’s helped carry the Wildcats thus far this season that was still on display Saturday was their propensity for late-inning rallies. They trimmed a 6-2 deficit in the opener to 6-5, and even after allowing San Bernardino to build its lead back to 8-5, they got the tying run to the plate in the ninth. But San Bernardino closer Kyle Pond, who saved both games Saturday to bring his CCAA-leading total to 10, struck out Shane Kroker and Matt Anderson to end the game.
They rallied for three runs in the sixth inning of the second game to trim the lead to 4-3, but with the tying run on second base Pond got Ian McKay to fly out to deep center field and then Kroker to ground out to end the inning. They again got the tying run on second in the seventh when Just Manci drew a leadoff walk and moved to second on Kyle Leon’s sacrifice bunt. But Dillon Usiak struck out and Yasuhara grounded out to end the game.
Ben Manlove and Adrian Bringas bashed home runs in the opener and drove in two runs apiece. Kroker also drove in a pair of runs. Yasuhara had three hits to stretch his hitting streak to 13 games and Cody Foster posted a pair of hits in both games to stretch his streak to 16.
Foster and Bringas batted in runs in the second game. Freshman Ryan O’Shea (4-1) took his first collegiate loss in the second game. After keeping the Coyotes in check for the first five frames, he gave up four runs (three earned) in the sixth. Juan Guerra pitched a scoreless seventh.
The series concludes Sunday with a single game Sunday at 11 AM.
GAME 1 BOX
GAME 2 BOX
