SACRAMENTO – The Capital City Clash was a nifty name, but Sunday’s showdown between the rival Chico State and Sonoma State baseball teams at Raley Field in Sacramento will henceforth be known as the Rally at Raley as far as the Wildcats are concerned. Rallies in the capital city are nothing new, but this one was one to remember: The Wildcats trailed 7-0 at one point and scored eight times in the ninth to win 9-7.

Abel Alcantar, making his first plate appearance in over a month, lit the fuse on the eight-run explosion with a two-run double. Eric Angerer, Ian McKay and Jordan Beck had opened the inning with consecutive singles, Beck’s plating Angerer. TJ Yasuhara followed with a bloop single to leave runners on the corners. Cody Webber’s RBI-single through the left side made it 7-5 and brought the go-ahead run to the plate. Blake Gibbs was hit by a pitch with one down to load the bases marking the first of many times the Seawolves would add fuel to the fire.

The next came when Roger Boulden hit a come-backer to pitcher Mike Guglielmo that threatened to end the rally and the game as easy as a 1-2-3 double play. But catcher Joel Thys’ throw struck Boulden in the helmet and the ball rocketed into the right-field bleachers, allowing Webber to score and both Boulden and Gibbs to move into scoring position.

After Angerer was hit by a pitch, Ian McKay’s infield single deep into the hole between second and third plated the tying run. Beck was beaned by a pitch to drive in the go-ahead run, giving the Wildcats an 8-7 lead, and the Wildcats got their final run when Alcantar reached on catchers’ interference, the Seawolves second error of the inning and fifth of the game.

“I felt like I was unconscious and the whole team felt like we were in another universe while the greatest moment of the whole season was happening before us,” said Alcantar.

“A guy like Abel who puts in the work every day, that’s what a game like this is all about,” said Wildcats Head Coach Dave Taylor. “I’m proud of him. I’m proud of this whole team. Down 7-1 in the ninth it’s easy to pack it in, but not this group.”

Mike Botelho pitching the ninth for his ninth save, getting some help from Yasuhara who made a gorgeous play to turn two, stepping on the bag just in front of a Seawolves’ baserunner and rifling a throw to first for the first two outs of the frame. A bouncer to Beck ended the game and the Wildcats poured out of the dugout and bullpen to celebrate their most miraculous of three come-from-behind wins in the crucial California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) series between these rivals that entered the weekend tied for third place.

The Wildcats, now 29-13 overall and 19-13 in the CCAA, moved into a tie for second place with Cal State San Bernardino with the win. They trail conference leader UC San Diego by two games in the loss column with eight to play, and lead fourth-place Cal State Stanislaus and Cal State L.A. by a game in a tight race for the CCAA crown. Sonoma State, on the precipice of a tie for third with the big lead, instead dropped into sixth place with the loss.

Chico State wraps up the regular season with a four-game series at home against Cal State Dominguez Hills next weekend and a four-game series at Cal State Stanislaus May 4-6. The top four teams in the final CCAA standings will earn a berth in the CCAA Championship Tournament May 10-12 on the campus of UC San Diego in La Jolla.

Morgan Yee, who had made just five appearances all season before this weekend, earned his second win in three days with two shutout innings of relief for the Wildcats. He allowed two hits but coaxed double-play grounders each time to finish the weekend with seven shutout innings on five hits. Yee struck out eight and did not walk a batter over the weekend.

The Capital City Clash looked like it would be a mini catastrophe for the Wildcats, who were rendered nearly punchless by Sonoma State ace Thomas Lee. He had a three-hit shutout going through six before the Wildcats scratched out a run on three hits, including McKay’s RBI-single, in the seventh. Lee finished with seven strikeouts and walked only one.

The Wildcats threatened in the eighth before Boulden lined out to left with two runners on.

Then, off in the distance, a train whistle blew. Raley Field, home of the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats, is located near the train yard in Sacramento. At the time, a rally seemed out of the cards for ‘Cats, who had struggled against Seawolves’ pitching all weekend, having scored just 10 runs through 38 innings.

Looking back now, it was a rally train (a Chico State tradition when the train passes beyond the right-field fence at Nettleton Stadium). The Wildcats rode it to ecstasy.

The Rally at Raley
The Wildcats trailed 7-1 heading into the ninth inning Sunday but put together one of the greatest comebacks in Chico State baseball history. Here’s how it happened…

• Eric Angerer led off the inning with a stinging single to right.
• Ian McKay bounced a single through the left side of the infield.
• Jordan Beck hit a dribbler down the third base line that plated Angerer and went for an infield single. 7-2.
• Pinch hitter Abel Alcantar lined a 3-2 pitch into the left-center field gap for a double (his second hit of the season in 11 at-bats) that drove in Angerer and Beck. 7-4.
• TJ Yasuhara blooped a single to shallow left field, allowing Alcantar to advance to third.
• Cody Webber, who came on as a defensive replacement at second base in the eighth and was 0-for-7 in the series entering Sunday’s game, smacked a single through the left side to score Alcantar and advance Yasuhara to second. 7-5.
• With one out, Blake Gibbs was hit by a pitch, loading the bases.
• Roger Boulden hit a tailor-made double-play chopper back to the pitcher, but perhaps thrown off by Boulden’s head-first slide toward first, Seawolves’ catcher Joel Thys’ relay throw toward first found the back of Boulden’s helmet and ricocheted into the bleachers down the first base line. Yasuhara was forced out at home on the play, but Webber came around to score on the dead ball, while Gibbs moved to third and Boulden to second. 7-6.
• Angerer was plunked in the back of the leg by a pitch to load the bases in his second at-bat of the inning.
• McKay singled for the second time in the inning, hitting a grounder that was gloved very deep in the hole at shortstop. He easily beat the throw and Gibbs scored the tying run. 7-7.
• Beck was hit in the back of the leg by a 3-0 pitch – the third Wildcat to take a dose in the inning and the fourth of the game – to force home Boulden with the go-ahead run. 8-7.
• • Alcantar’s swing knocked the glove off Thys and knocked the catcher out of the game. Thys was called for catchers’ interference for the third time in the series, allowing Alcantar to reach and, in turn, forcing home Angerer from third. 9-7.

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