CARY, N.C. – After nearly being no-hit Saturday to open the Division II College World Series, the Chico State baseball team regained its offensive stroke Monday, banging out a dozen hits against Minnesota State in the second round of the NCAA Championship, but uncharacteristically, a myriad of fielding, baserunning and pitching miscues ultimately did the Wildcats in, as the Mavericks scored a run in the seventh inning to tie and two in the ninth to edge the ’Cats 6-5 and knock Chico State out of the double-elimination tournament. The loss at the USA Baseball National Training Complex ended the Wildcats’ 2012 season and the chance of earning the third national crown in the program’s storied history.
Junior second baseman Pierson Jeremiah figured prominently both offensively and defensively. Jeremiah went 3-for-4 and drove in three Wildcat runs, but his three errors contributed to a pair of costly unearned runs. Chico State committed four errors on the day and stranded eight baserunners – six in scoring position.
“It’s a tough way to go out,” Taylor said during Monday’s postgame press conference. “They did a good job of taking advantage of our mistakes. We really beat ourselves.”
Lost in the disappointment of the season-ending loss was a solid performance by Chico State starting pitcher Sean Martin, who allowed just two earned runs in six-and-a-third innings of work. In addition to Jeremiah’s three hits, Cody Foster, Ian McKay, Abel Alcantar and Shane Kroker contributed two hits apiece.
A Memorial Day victory appeared to be in the cards for the ’Cats, as Chico State started the afternoon on a very encouraging note. Taylor decided to shake up his offense by employing several lineup changes, and the moves brought almost immediate results as Chico State jumped out to an early lead. Blake Gibbs led off the Wildcats’ second inning with a one-hop double off the right field wall, and after being sacrificed to third, scored when Kroker bounced a single through the left side of the infield to put the ’Cats on the board.
Chico State struck again in the bottom of the fourth inning – with Kroker and Abel Alcantar both in scoring position, Jeremiah laced a single off Minnesota State reliever T.J. Larson to knock in both runners and extend the Wildcats’ advantage to 3-0.
Two Chico State errors ushered in the Mavericks’ first run in the top of the fifth inning. Connor McCallum reached when Foster misplayed a pop fly in short center field; McCallum advancing to third on a base hit by Jeremy Sudbeck. Nolan Johnson then lined out to second, but Jeremiah’s throw to first to try to double off Sudbeck bounced off the runner’s helmet, allowing McCallum to score and make it a 3-1 ballgame.
Minnesota State knotted up the contest in the top of the sixth inning – after Matt Odegaard blooped a single to right to cash in Matt Kuchenbecker’s leadoff double, back-to-back errors by Jeremiah loaded the bases for the Mavericks with only one out. Martin was able to strike out McCallum, but Sudbeck’s infield single plated Odegaard and tie the game at three apiece.
The Wildcats immediately answered in the bottom of the sixth, as Jeremiah’s two-out double chased home pinch runner Eric Angerer to put Chico State back on top, 4-3.
Minnesota State came back to load the bases with one out in the top of the seventh, but Jeremy Perez – one of four pitchers Taylor used in the inning – got Mike Eckhart to ground into a fielder’s choice, forcing the runner at home. Ryan O’Shea came in from the Wildcat bullpen to try to get the final out, but hit Ben Kincaid with a pitch to force home the tying run. Luke Barker then came on in relief to put a halt to any additional scoring by striking out McCallum to end the inning.
Chico State had two chances to snap the 4-4 tie, but stranded Foster at second base in the bottom of the seventh inning and left Angerer in scoring position in the eighth. Minnesota State then took the lead for good in the top of the ninth – with Barker still on the mound for the ’Cats, Odegaard lined a two-out single to left and scored when Eckhart shot a triple into the right field corner. Mike Botelho came on in relief and got Kincaid to hit a high chopper back to the mound, but the ball tipped off a leaping Botelho’s outstretched glove, and by the time Jeremiah could run it down, Eckhart had scored to make it a 6-4 ballgame.
The Wildcats were down, but certainly not out. With one down in the bottom of the ninth, Foster reached on a Minnesota State error and went to third on a McKay double to right. Matt Anderson’s pinch-hit RBI groundout plated Foster to make it 6-5, but with the tying run at third, Mavericks reliever Mahlon Zimmerman struck out Gibbs to end it, and Minnesota State escaped with the one-run victory that closed the book on Chico State’s 2012 season.
BOX SCORE
“We’ve had countless comebacks this season, especially in the last six weeks,” Taylor said afterward. “But today it just wasn’t meant to be.”
Though Chico State made a quicker-than-hoped exit from the NCAA Championships, the Wildcats have nothing to hang their heads about – the successes were many, and the numbers certainly impressive. The Wildcats finished the season with a 40-19 record – the third time in Taylor’s six-year tenure as head coach that the ’Cats have won 40 or more – earned the program’s fifth California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) regular season title, and won the NCAA West Regional to reach the College World Series for the eighth time in the last 16 years.
“To get this team to this level was an outstanding achievement,” Taylor said, knowing that over 20 of his players who made the trip to the College World Series will be back in 2013. “It’s tough on the seniors, but this experience will just make our program even better next year.”
