TURLOCK – Three players who rarely left the bench over the first half of the season helped ensure that the Chico State baseball team will be playing in the postseason for the 17th time in 18 years. Roger Boulden blasted the game-winning home run in the 12th after pinch hitter Matt Anderson drove in the tying run in the eighth and Morgan Yee fired five scoreless innings in relief as the Wildcats beat Cal State Stanislaus 6-5 in 12 innings to clinch a berth in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Championship Tournament Friday.
Boulden, the team’s backup catcher, blasted the first pitch he saw in the 12th over the right field wall for his first home run of the season. The junior transfer from Monterey Peninsula Community College entered the game in the eighth inning as a pinch runner for Anderson after the senior singled sharply to right field to drive in the tying run.
Anderson, who didn’t have an at bat for nearly a month before jumping back into the team’s plans with a big series against Sonoma State, was summoned off the bench with two down and the tying run on second. The Wildcats were in
desperate need of a clutch hit, having gone just 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position to that point. He came through, driving in Eric Angerer to knot the score at 5-5.
Yee gave the Wildcats plenty of time to push ahead, firing five shutout innings in relief of Kagen Hopkins. The junior transfer who made just four appearances over the first two months of the season, made his fifth appearance of the last month, improving to 3-0 in those outings. He’s logged two or more innings of shutout relief in four of those five appearances.
Yee allowed just two hits, two walks and hit a batter without allowing a runner to reach second base. He also allowed Wildcats’ closer Mike Botelho to earn his 11th save of the season and the Wildcats’ sixth straight win. Botelho got off to a rough start, allowing runners to reach the corners with one out. But he got a popped up bunt and ground ball to second to convert his fifth save opportunity in a row.
The last out ensured that the Wildcats will reach the postseason in 2012, while ending the Warriors’ postseason hopes. All that’s left to decide now for the Wildcats is whether they can clinch at least a share of the CCAA regular season title. At 34-13 overall and 24-13 in the CCAA, the second-place Wildcats now trail conference leader UC San Diego by a half game, lead third-place Cal State San Bernardino by two and a half games with three to play.
With three games remaining in the series and Chico State’s regular season, the Wildcats would clinch the conference title outright with three more wins. They would share their first conference crown since 2005 with UC San Diego, which is off this week.
Shane Kroker and Abel Alcantar also answered the bell, which hasn’t rung much for them this season. Kroker, making just his fourth start since March 31, went 3-for-6 and scored a run. Alcantar, making just his third start of the season, went 2-for-3 and drove in a run. Angerer, Cody Foster, and Ian McKay banged out two hits apiece as well.
Alcantar actually got the Wildcats on the board first with an RBI single to left in the second inning. But some shoddy defense – an error and a hard grounder that Kroker couldn’t handle at third – opened the door to three Cal State Stanislaus runs.
The Warriors added two more runs in the third to build a 5-1 lead.
It stayed that way until the seventh when the Wildcats rallied to score three times. Ben Manlove and TJ Yasuhara each drove in runs after Kroker and McKay led off the inning with consecutive hits. Yasuhara then scored on a wild pitch to make it 5-4.
They scratched across the tying run in the eighth. Angerer beat out an infield single and moved to second on McKay’s grounder, setting the stage for Anderson.
The series continues with a doubleheader Saturday at 11 a.m. and concludes with a single game Sunday morning at 11.
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