With a scuffling Academy of Art team in town, the 13^th-ranked Chico State baseball team played just like Head Coach Dave Taylor drew it up. Four Wildcats pitchers combined on a shutout, the team played flawless defense, and the offense was relentless in a 20-0 win Friday night at Nettleton Stadium.

Shane Kroker banged out four hits, Jordan Beck went 3-for-4 and drove in four runs, and Ben Manlove doubled twice and drove in two runs on the way to a 3-for-4 night. Cody Foster, Matt Anderson, Myles Dempsey and Austin Prott notched two hits apiece as the Wildcats improved to 14-5.

Kagen Hopkins tossed six shutout innings, striking out six in the process to improve to 3-1 on the season. Will Enos, Austin Alva and Morgan Yee each added a scoreless frame without allowing a hit.

The margin of victory was Chico State’s largest since beating Central Washington 24-2 on Feb. 26, 2010.

Manlove’s first of two RBI-doubles opened a two-run second inning and his second was part of a four-run third. Eric Angerer slashed an RBI-triple and Kroker collected an RBI-single in the frame as well.

Sparked by Dempsey’s RBI-single the Wildcats added two more runs in the fourth to make it 8-0 and then broke it wide open with a seven-run fifth. Two-run singles by Foster and Beck were the big hits in the frame.

Matt Anderson doubled home two runs in the sixth before scoring on Prott’s double in the sixth, stretching the Wildcats’ lead to 18-0. The capped the scoring in the eighth when Chris Viltz hit a leadoff double and scored on Pierson Jeremiah’s double. Beck drove in Jeremiah with a base hit to make it 20-0.

James Singzon went 2-for-3 to lead Academy of Art, which fell to 0-16 on the season.
The series continues with a doubleheader Saturday at noon and concludes with a single game Sunday at 11 a.m.

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