Box Score The Chico State baseball team won its 19th straight home opener Wednesday 13-3 over Northwest Nazarene, and while many memorable performances have come that stretch, few have matched Jon Peters’ opening day production. The Wildcats’ beer-league bodied designated hitter homered, doubled, and drove in four runs in his first start of the season.
Peters, who redshirted last season after playing sparingly in 2011, singled and scored the Wildcats’ first run, hammered a mammoth three-run homer to left to break the game open, and then doubled home another run in the fourth but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple.
The 5th-ranked Wildcats improved to 9-0 for the fourth time in school history, while Northwest Nazarene dropped to 5-5 with its fourth consecutive loss.
Peters wasn’t the only Wildcat to make a nice first impression on the fans. Ben Manlove, a man they’re very familiar with, hit his third home run of the season and finished 3-for-5 with three runs scored. San Diego State transfer Cody Slader was a home run shy of the cycle, going 3-for-5 with a trio of runs scored and an RBI. Eric Angerer, Pierson Jeremiah and Ryne Clark collected two hits apiece. Jeremiah drove in three runs and swiped a pair of bases in the process. And Blake Gibbs blasted his second homer of the season in as many games. He also made a tremendous running catch the center field wall.
Kagen Hopkins was the main beneficiary of the offensive explosion. The senior scattered 10 hits over six innings in his first start of the season, limiting Northwest Nazarene to just three runs (two earned). He struck out four and walked one to improve to 2-0 this season and 10-4 as a Wildcat.
Morgan Yee struck out two in two innings of relief, and then Chris Rodriguez pushed his 2013 hitless streak to six innings with a 1-2-3 ninth.
The Wildcats will put their 11-game home winning streak on the line when the series continues Thursday with a doubleheader at 1 p.m. It concludes with a single game Friday at 2:30.
The third best start in school history is also there for the ’Cats to claim. Three other Chico State baseball teams have started 9-0, but only three made it
beyond 10-0. The 2002 Wildcats started 20-0 and the 1997 team tore off a 13-game streak to start the season. The 2000 Wildcats won their first 10 contests of the season.
The Wildcats will also look to continue their dominance of regular season non-conference opposition. They’re 82-10 in such games under Head Coach Dave Taylor (1997-present), including a ridiculous 63-5 at home.
As the last players finished up their postgame field duties, a gorgeous sunset glowed through the giant Oak tree down the first-base line. It was opening day, after all. And as usual, the baseball gods were smiling on the Wildcats.
