LA JOLLA – When radio stations play the hits, they tend to stay in business. No hits, no listeners. Baseball teams tend to face the same fate. The hits were few and far between for the Chico State baseball team Friday, and now they’ll have to wait until Monday to find out if they’re still in business.
The Wildcats combined for just 10 hits in 18 innings while dropping a 9-1 decision to UC San Diego in the afternoon and a 5-1 decision to Sonoma State Friday night. The two losses eliminated Chico State from the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Championship Tournament at Triton Field on the campus of UC San Diego.
The Wildcats, now 37-16, came into the game averaging a CCAA best 6.7 runs per game. But after their third-inning run in the first game against UC San Diego, they went 15 straight innings without a run before getting their only tally in the seventh inning against Sonoma State.
“We got frustrated early in that first game and for whatever reason we got long with our swings,” said Wildcats Head Coach Dave Taylor. “And along swing is a selfish swing. When you face good pitching you’ve got to shorten up and put the ball in play.
“It was a very, very disappointing approach at the plate this late in the year. To go from playing so well yesterday to reverting back to some of the things we were struggling with early in the year is disappointing.”
Now the Wildcats will await word from the NCAA Rankings Committee on their NCAA Championship Tournament fate. That news will officially come Sunday night at 7. But what happens in La Jolla on Saturday will at least give them a good idea heading into the announcement.
The Wildcats entered the weekend ranked No. 2 in the West Region, ahead of No. 3 Dixie State and No. 4 UC San Diego. But Sonoma State is the wildcard. The Seawolves (27-24) were unranked heading into the weekend, so their only real hope of getting into the NCAA Tournament is to earn the automatic bid that goes to the CCAA Tournament champion. They’ll attempt to do so Saturday, but they’ll have to beat UC San Diego twice in order to do it. The Tritons have yet to lose a game this weekend.
The champion of the CCAA Tournament and the remaining top three teams in the West will advance to the NCAA Championship Tournament Thursday through Sunday, most likely hosted by Western Oregon in Salem, Ore.
Sonoma State 5, Chico State 1
The Wildcats’ struggles at the plate grew worse with runners in scoring position. They went 0-for-9 in those situations, getting their only run on Shane Kroker’s fielders’ choice grounder in the seventh.
The Wildcats twice came up empty despite threatening big innings against Seawolves starter Harmen Sidhu (7-1), but he wiggled off the hook both times and went the route for the win and struck out eight in the process. Blake Gibbs walked and Myles Dempsey reached on an error leading off the second. But Gibbs was thrown out at third on Matt Anderson’s sacrifice bunt attempt, and after the runners advanced anyway on a wild pitch, Eric Angerer struck out and Ian McKay fouled out to end the threat.
That was the kind of day it had been and the kind of night it would be.
Angerer struck out again with two runners on to end the fourth. The Wildcats also failed to push a run across in the sixth even after Cody Foster led off the inning with a double.
Even when the Wildcats finally scored in the seventh, they were threatening to do much more after McKay and Roger Boulden had back-to-back hits to lead off the inning. But TJ Yasuhara, Kroker and Foster all grounded out to end the inning.
Luke Barker absorbed the loss for Chico State, allowed three runs (two earned) in four-and-a-third frames. After Sean Martin was knocked around a bit in two and two-thirds innings, Nick Baker and Jeremy Perez each pitched an inning of scoreless relief.
BOX SCORE GAME 1
UC San Diego 9, Chico State 1
The Tritons (31-21) will have two chances to win the conference tournament crown against Sonoma State Saturday and some of their biggest fans will be heading back to Chico.
Chico State notched just five hits in the game. Ben Manlove slapped an RBI-single through the right side to plate Kroker with the Wildcats’ lone run in the third. That briefly tied the score at 1-1 before the Tritons scored a run in the third and two more in the fourth to take control. They broke it open in the seventh on Scott Liske’s grand slam.
The Wildcats went without a run over the last six frames against Tritons starter Ryan Goodbrand and reliever Sean Rowand.
Ryan O’Shea took the loss for the Wildcats, falling to 3-2. The sophomore was making his first start in 10 weeks and proved a bit rusty, allowing four runs (three earned) on seven hits in three and two-thirds innings. Morgan Yee was the victim of Liske’s grand slam. Juan Guerra finally slowed down the Tritons, tossing two scoreless innings.
Goodbrand (10-0) earned the win for UC San Diego, tossing eight strong innings. He gave up just five hits, struck out five, and didn’t walk a batter.
BOX SCORE GAME 2
