The Chico State baseball team was in attack mode all day. The Wildcats’ last victim was their own Ben Manlove, who was mobbed after rounding second base following his looping walk-off base hit to right field in a 6-5 win against San Francisco State at Nettleton Stadium Friday afternoon.
The 15th-ranked Wildcats, now 9-2 overall and 3-2 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA), were aggressive on the base paths offensively and pitchers Kagen Hopkins and Sean Martin both attacked the strike zone.
The Wildcats found themselves trailing 4-2 following Hopkins’ first rough inning of the season, but Blake Gibbs set the tone for the rest of the game in the bottom of the fourth. After reaching on a walk, he sprinted around second base on Cody Webber’s single up the middle, never hesitating. His aggressiveness forced Gators center fielder Dustin Wold to look up as he attempted to field the ball and it rolled under his glove and toward the center field wall. Gibbs sprinted all the way home and Webber wound up on third.
Jordan Beck’s grounder plated Webber to tie the game, and the Wildcats took the lead on another attacking play. With runners on the corners and two down, Manlove was spied sneaking off second base. As soon as the Gators threw that direction, Eric Angerer took off toward home, completely committed to getting to home plate. He used a head-first dive to do just that, sliding in under the tag to give Chico State a 5-4 lead.
A single, sac bunt and fielders’ choice in San Francisco State’s half of the sixth knotted the score at 5-5, where it remained until the ninth.
Hopkins, who didn’t walk a batter and struck out six, retired seven of the last eight batters he faced. Sean Martin followed suit, allowing only a two-out single in a scoreless ninth.
Beck drew a walk to lead off the bottom of the ninth. Pinch runner Shane Kroker moved to second on Ian McKay’s sacrifice bunt. And after Angerer was intentionally walked, Manlove muscled a single to right, easily scoring Kroker for the Wildcats’ seventh straight home win to start the season.
Martin earned the win, improving to 2-1 on the season. Hopkins (2-0) got a no-decision, allowing five runs on seven hits in eight innings. Four of the runs and three of the hits came in the third inning. Aside from that frame, Hopkins went seven innings and allowed just one run on four hits.
Angerer and Manlove led the Wildcats with two hits apiece.
The Wildcats have now won 25 of their last 28 meetings against the Gators at Nettleton Stadium. They’ll attempt to improve that number when the teams play a doubleheader Saturday at noon. The series concludes with a single game Sunday morning at 11.
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