TURLOCK – The comeback ‘Cats are CCAA champs! Eric Angerer’s 10^th-inning sacrifice fly drove in Cody Webber with the winning run as the Chico State baseball team completed a 5-4 come-from-behind win at Cal State Stanislaus Sunday, pushing the Wildcats into a tie for first place atop the final California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) standings.
 
Blake Gibbs hit a game-tying two-run homer in the eighth for the Wildcats and Mike Botelho collected his 12^th save as Chico State won for the 10^th time in 12 games. Five of those wins have come in the team’s final at-bat.
 
Those comebacks carried the Wildcats from three games back in the conference standings four weeks ago to a share of their first CCAA title since 2005.
 
Webber got the winning rally started with a leadoff single to left. Cody Foster sacrificed him to second with a bunt, and then Gibbs was intentionally walked. Pinch hitter Abel Alcantar followed with a gritty at-bat, and the eighth pitch he saw drilled him in the ribs to load the bases. Angerer drove a 1-0 pitch to deep center, allowing Webber to score what proved to be the winning run.
 
The Wildcats improved to 36-14 overall and finished 26-14 in the CCAA. They also presumably gained some ground on the teams ranked directly above them in the NCAA West Region rankings. Chico State entered the weekend ranked No. 4 in the West Region and won three of four against a plus-.500 team on the road. No. 3 Cal State San Bernardino split a home-and-away four-game series against last-place Cal State Dominguez Hills, while No. 2 UC San Diego split a two-game series at home against Grand Canyon University.
 
The Wildcats jumped on top early Sunday with two runs in the second. Gibbs opened the inning with a double and Matt Anderson followed with a walk. Both runners advanced on Angerer’s sacrifice bunt before Shane Kroker hit a grounder to second that plated Gibbs and moved Anderson over to third. That proved important as Anderson scored on a passed ball a few pitches later.
 
Cal State Stanislaus tied the game in the third and added two more runs in the fifth against Wildcats starter Luke Barker, who allowed those four runs on seven hits in six-and-a-third innings. The freshman struck out eight and walked a season-high three.
 
But Nick Baker, Jeremy Perez, Morgan Yee, and Botelho combined to shut out the Warriors from that point on. Perez picked up the win, improving to 4-0.
 
Meanwhile, the Wildcats put together a two-out rally to tie the game in the eighth. Cody Foster drew a two-out walk and then Gibbs crushed a ball over the wall in left field for his seventh homer of the season, tying the game 4-4.
 
Gibbs finished with two hits and Anderson went 0-for-1 but drew three walks and scored a run.
 
The Wildcats will now focus on the CCAA Championship Tournament, which begins Thursday in La Jolla on the campus of UC San Diego. They’ll open the double-elimination tournament against Cal State San Bernardino, most likely at 3 p.m. UC San Diego will take on Sonoma State in Thursday’s other opener. The official announcement of the field and times will come Monday morning.
 
The Wildcats will be making their 17^th trip to the postseason in 18 years.

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