It’s yet to be determined whether this is what Kagen Hopkins’ parents had in mind when they picked out his first name. If it was, well played Mr. and Mrs. Hopkins. Kagen K’d nine in seven shutout innings as the 12th-ranked Chico State baseball team rolled to a 7-2 win against Saint Martin’s in its 2012 season opener at Nettleton Stadium Friday afternoon.

The transfer from Solano Community College scattered four singles and walked just one. He was one of many Wildcats newcomers who made big contributions. Fellow community college transfers Jordan Beck, Myles Dempsey and Cody Webber notched two hits apiece and Beck, Dempsey and Colton Hamill each drove in a run apiece. Blake Gibbs, a medical redshirt after getting just 23 at-bats last season, drove in the Wildcats’ first run on a first-inning sacrifice fly.

The Wildcats mustered just one extra-base hit, Hamill’s RBI double in the seventh, but did do a lot of little things right offensively. They banged out 10 hits, laid down a pair of sacrifice bunts with runners on first and second and none out, and took five doses (hit by pitch). They also played errorless defense and allowed just six hits and walked two. Juan Guerra, who saved 11 games last season, needed just six pitches to retire the Saints in order in the ninth.

The series continues with a doubleheader Saturday at noon and concludes with a single game Sunday at 11. All three games will be broadcast locally on 101.7 FM and 1340 AM Fox Sports Radio. Saturday’s first game and Sunday’s game will also be available via the Wildcat Webcast link on the right side of this screen. Saturday’s second game will not be on the air because of a radio station conflict.

Chico State took the lead four hitters into the bottom of the first and led all the way. Cody Foster and TJ Yasuhara were both hit by pitches and moved up on Beck’s sacrifice bunt. Gibbs’ sacrifice fly made it 1-0 and Yasuhara scored the second run of the inning on a throwing error.

That’s where the score remained until the Wildcats broke it open with five more runs in the seventh.

Hopkins seemed to grow stronger as the game went on. He retired the last seven batters he faced – four via strikeout – and struck out eight of the last 13 batters sent to the plate against him. Hopkins pitched around Saints doubleheader Travis Jones with a runner on third and two down in the first, but did not issue another free pass.

Hopkins struck out two to start the seventh and got a grounder to third on his last pitch of the day.

Then the Wildcats made sure he would get credit for the win. Webber and Eric Angerer opened the inning with consecutive singles and after two runs scored on a costly Saints throwing error, Beck, Dempsey and Hamill had two-out RBI hits to make it 7-0.

Saint Martin’s made a little noise in the eighth on Zach Leonard’s wind-aided home run down the right field line and Bobby Twedt’s RBI-double. But Sean Martin relieved Jeremy Perez and got a strikeout to end the brief rally.

Saint Martin’s, coming off a four-game sweep at Cal Poly Pomona last weekend, fell to 0-5.

Foster’s one-out single in the fifth extended his hitting streak to 10 games dating back to last season, Manlove’s two-out single in the second stretched his streak to seven games, and Angerer’s seventh-inning safety gave him six straight games with a hit.

The Wildcats are ranked No. 12 in the nation by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and No. 9 by D2 Baseball News.