Box Score Chico State Baseball Coach Dave Taylor loves to remind his team that good pitching and defense wins games. He can probably save his breath on that speech for the rest of the season, instead saying these four words to remind them: San Bernardino game four.
Chico State got its first hit in the sixth and its second in the 12th, but pitching and defense gave the Wildcats the chance to win. The pitching staff allowed just one first-inning run and the Wildcats played 13 innings of dynamite defense before Ryne Clark’s walk-off RBI double in the bottom of the 13th gave them a 2-1 win and series sweep against visiting Cal State San Bernardino Sunday at Nettleton Stadium.
Clark’s laser down the right field line plated the speedy Roger Boulden (who walked with one out) all the way from first and gave the fifth-ranked Wildcats their most exciting win of the season.
Chico State improved to 27-5 overall and 20-4 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) with its 13th straight win. That streak is tied for the fifth longest in school history and the longest since the 2007 team’s 13-0 start in Taylor’s first season at the helm. The school record is 20 straight wins, set in the first 20 games of 2002. See the bottom of the page for more win-streak details.
Clark’s game-winning RBI was his fourth of the season. He came on as a pinch runner in the midst of an odd ninth-inning rally in which the Wildcats scored the tying run without a base hit.
Cody Webber, Boulden and Austin Prott were all hit by pitches to load the bases with one out. Coyotes pitcher Brian Jipp then balked home the tying run. The Wildcats were going extra innings despite being limited to one hit – Prott’s line single through the left side with one down in the fifth – through the first nine innings.
Chico State starter Kagen Hopkins did not have his best stuff. But he gutted his way through six-plus innings, allowing a run on six hits and three walks. He did have his plus pickoff move, however, which may have saved the day in the first.
A walk and base hit gave the Coyotes (11-21, 5-19 CCAA) runners at the corners with one down in the first. But Hopkins employed a fake-to-third and throw-to-first pickoff move to pick off his fourth batter of the season and limit the damage to a single run.
Even that run was a bitter pill to swallow for the Wildcats. Shortstop Cody Slader foreshadowed what would become a game-long display of amazing defense by going deep into the hole behind second, spinning, and throwing to first for what looked like the third out of the inning. But Billy Hamilton was called safe on the play, allowing the run to score. Taylor rushed out from the dugout to argue the call to no avail.
It was the first of numerous great defensive plays the Wildcats made.
Cal State San Bernardino was in prime position to add an insurance run in the eighth with a runner on third and one down. But first baseman Eric Angerer fielded a one-hop smash and then threw a strike across the diamond to get the runner leaking off third and end the threat.
The Coyotes had another great scoring opportunity wiped out in the ninth, with runners on the corners and one down. But a quick turn of a double play from Dempsey to Slader to Angerer ended the inning.
A one-out single had Cal State San Bernardino back in business in the 10th. But Jake Bailey cut down what proved to be the Coyotes’ last baserunner attempting to steal second.
Jeremy Perez came on in relief of Hopkins with one down and nobody on in the seventh, starting a stretch of six and two-thirds innings of scoreless relief by the Wildcats’ bullpen. Perez went one inning, Sean Martin two-thirds of a frame, Chris Rodriguez three innings, and then Luke Barker (2-0) retired the Coyotes’ final six hitters to earn the win.
GAME NOTES – Chico State’s defense has now played 61 consecutive innings of error-free ball to raise its fielding percentage to .973. The school record is .974…Pierson Jeremiah’s base hit in the 12th, Chico State’s first in seven innings, extended his hitting streak to 12 games. He’s 21-for-43 during that stretch…Cody Webber’s 12-game hit streak came to an end. He went 0-for-3 with a walk and two hit-by-pitches…Opponents are now just 11-for-22 attempting to steal against Bailey and Ben Manlove this season. That pair has also combined to pick off five runners…The Wildcats are 5-0 this season and 17-4 over the past two when Hopkins starts…The Wildcats were hit by pitches seven times Sunday, the most since the 2011 season opener, and have now been plunked 62 times this season…Fourteen different Wildcats have been hit by pitches and nine have been plunked multiple times…After being hit for the 21st time Sunday, Eric Angerer is on pace to post the second most HBPs per game in NCAA Division II history. He’s seven shy of Robby Poole’s school record for most in a season…The Wildcats improved to 22-2 when getting hit by pitches two or more times…They’ve now won 10 straight and 21 of 22 at Nettleton Stadium dating back to last season…Chico State’s current starting rotation of Nick Baker, Troy Neiman, Mike Botelho and Hopkins combined to go 3-0 with a 1.07 ERA this weekend and are now 20-3 with a 1.74 ERA this season…Clark made three appearances off the bench in the series and went 3-for-3 with a walk, three runs, and his RBI-double…The Wildcats are now 16-5 in extra-inning affairs under Taylor.
Longest win streaks in Chico State baseball history
2002: 20
1999-2000: 17
1997: 15
2006: 14
2013: 13
2007: 13
2000: 13
