Box Score CARSON – Five different Wildcats banged out two hits apiece and Ryan O’Shea and Kagen Hopkins combined on a four-hitter as the Chico State baseball team blitzed Cal State Dominguez Hills 8-3 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) opener for both teams Friday afternoon.
O’Shea allowed a run on two hits in four frames and then Hopkins (1-0) held the Toros to two runs on two hits in five innings to earn the win for the 8th-ranked Wildcats, who improved to 5-0 overall and 1-0 in the CCAA.
Ben Manlove smacked his second home run of the season leading off a three-run sixth that stretched Chico State’s lead to 7-1. Manlove and 1-2-3 hitters Eric Angerer, Pierson Jeremiah and Cody Webber all finished with two hits and an RBI. Cody Slader went 2-for-3 with a pair of runs scored. And Blake Gibbs and Roger Boulden drove in a run apiece.
The Wildcats got their leadoff hitter on in five of the first six innings, setting up a trio of crooked-numbered rallies.
Myles Dempsey opened the second with a single, moved to third on Manlove one-out single, and then Roger Boulden bunted home the first run of the day. Manlove scored on Angerer’s single to right, making it 2-0.
The Wildcats got another two-spot in the third. Jeremiah walked and Webber doubled to spark the rally. Gibbs bunted him the game’s third run, and then Dempsey grounded into a double play to plate Webber.
The Toros finally got to O’Shea in the fourth when he gave up back-to-back walks to open the frame, but he minimized the damage by getting a pair of ground balls and a pop out.
He finished the day with four innings in the books having allowed two hits and three walks while striking out one.
The Wildcats opened their lead in the sixth sparked by Manlove’s big fly. Slader reached when he was plunked by a pitch and later
scored on a balk. And Webber singled home Angerer to make it 7-1.
Cal State Dominguez Hills (3-3 overall, 0-1 CCAA) got a run back in the seventh with the help of Hopkins; walk and balk, but Jeremiah answered with an RBI-single in the top of the eighth.
Hopkins struck out five in five innings. He also walked three.
The series continues with a doubleheader Saturday at 11 a.m. and concludes with a single game Sunday at 11.
