Nick Baker and Troy Neiman combined on a four-hitter and Cody Foster delivered a tiebreaking two-run single in the seventh as the Chico State baseball team completed a season opening four-game sweep of Saint Martin’s with a 3-1 win Sunday at Nettleton Stadium.
Baker, like the three starters before him in this series, was in midseason form, allowing just one unearned run on four hits in seven innings. The nine-game winner as a true freshman last season struck out eight (including four straight to end his outing) and walked only one. Neiman, a transfer from College of the Canyons, punched out four in two perfect innings for his first save.
The 12th-ranked Wildcats, 4-0, will now set their sights on their California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) opening series against UC San Diego next weekend in La Jolla. The three-time defending conference champion Tritons will host Chico State for four games beginning Friday night at 6 p.m.
Strong starting pitching and clutch hitting like the Wildcats got all weekend would certainly help their cause. Chico State’s four starters combined to go 4-0 with a 1.08 ERA against Saint Martin’s. They scattered 19 hits in 25 innings, struck out 34 and walked just five.
And though the offense didn’t click like it had through the first three games of the series in which the Wildcats scored 27 runs, the Wildcats got two big runs late.
Ian McKay, making his first start of the season after hitting .330 last year, was a catalyst in both of Chico State’s rallies. First, a half inning after Saint Martin’s took a 1-0 lead on a throwing error, McKay laid down a sacrifice bunt that put the tying run in position to score on Ben Manlove’s ground ball that followed. Myles Dempsey and Colton Hamill set up the game-tying rally with consecutive singles to start the frame.
McKay’s one-out bunt single in the seventh set things up nicely for the Wildcats, and Manlove’s double to center field knocked Saints starting pitcher Thomas DeBoer (L, 0-1) from the contest. Foster shot the first pitch he saw from Kaleb Wilson right back up the middle for a two-run single that put the Wildcats ahead to stay.
Foster, who singled to start the game, extended his hitting streak to 13 games dating back to his last nine of 2011. Hamill finished with two hits as well.
BOX SCORE
