STOCKTON – It was double the pain for the Chico State baseball team at the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Championship Tournament Friday at Klein Family Field on the campus of the University of Pacific in Stockton. Cal Poly Pomona pounded a tournament-record 10 doubles in a 13-2 win over the Wildcats in an elimination game, making sure they would not come off the deck following a marathon 13-9 loss to UC San Diego in 12 innings in the game prior.
Chico State will now await Sunday night’s 7 PM NCAA Championship Tournament field announcement on NCAA.com to find out of their season will continue with the program’s 13th NCAA Tournament berth since 1996. The top four teams in the West Region will be selected. Chico State entered the weekend ranked No. 4 in the West. They started the tournament strong, beating West No. 3 Sonoma State Thursday. The Seawolves were the first team eliminated after losing to Cal Poly Pomona in Friday’s first game. Cal Poly Pomona, which could earn and automatic berth by winning the CCAA Championship Tournament title with a pair of wins against UC San Diego Saturday, entered the weekend ranked No. 5 in the West.
Chico State fell to 30-20 with Friday’s losses. Sonoma State is 33-19, and Cal Poly Pomona is 32-20.
UC San Diego’s berth is certainly secure. The Tritons’ thrilling win Friday was their 19th straight. But it didn’t come easy.
The Wildcats led 5-2 before UC San Diego rallied for two runs in the eighth and two more in the ninth to take a 6-5 lead. But TJ Yasuhara tied it in the bottom half of the inning with his first home run of the season.
UC San Diego took an 8-6 lead in the 11th, but freshman Eric Angerer knocked a two out, two run game-tying single up the middle in the bottom half of the inning.
The seventh-ranked Tritons finally created a mountain too big to climb with a five-run 12th to advance to Saturday’s CCAA Championship Tournament title game.
Yasuhara was 4-for-6 with three runs scored and the RBI against UC San Diego and finished the day 6-for-9. Angerer went 3-for-6 with three RBI against the Tritons, and Jackson Evans was 2-for-6 with two runs scored and an RBI.
Ben Manlove smashed a solo home run, his team-leading sixth, against Cal Poly Pomona. Senior Michael Schultz, filling in for the injured Cody Foster, went 2-for-3.
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