Weird's okay, as long as it comes with a W – especially one of the walkoff variety.
 
The 11th-ranked Chico State baseball team won one of the weirdest games in Nettleton Stadium's history Friday night, beating Cal State Dominguez Hills 5-4 in 13 innings. Peter Miller's walkoff single in the bottom of the 13th helped ease the pain of two atrocious baserunning blunders and a pair of costly defensive lapses.
 
Luke Barker gave the Wildcats all the time they needed to overcome those mistakes with five near-flawless innings of relief to get the win and improve to 3-0. Barker carved up Cal State Dominguez Hills, striking out nine without allowing a baserunner.
 
The Wildcats outhit Cal State Dominguez Hills 17-7 and had the benefit of five Toros errors and a balk but stranded 18 runners on base. They also had two runners caught stealing and another picked off in the last four frames.
 After Chico State tied the game in the eighth on Ryne Clark's triple and Dylan Garcia's sacrifice fly, the Wildcats had a great chance to win it in the ninth. But with nobody out and runners on first and second, Kenny Corona took off for second on a ball in the dirt and was picked off.  They still managed to load the bases before Tyler Madrid struck out.
 
Chico State used four pinch hitters in the fruitless inning that also included the Toros moving a pitcher to first base.
 
The Wildcats had two runners on and one out in the 11th when Walker got caught between second and third and thrown out. Miller then left the second-base bag to head back toward first and was tagged out to end the inning.
 
Befitting of such a strange night, fortune finally smiled upon the 'Cats in the 13th. Ruben Padilla's one-out rocket to left was poorly played by left fielder Brennan Bernardino, who seemingly could have made a thigh-high catch but instead hesitated and then had it bounce past him to the wall for a single and error.
 
Miller's two-out hit was a line shot that sizzled over the second baseman.
 
Chico State fell behind 3-0 and never led until Miller's hit. The Toros' two-run second came after Nick Baker issued a rare walk and Ryan McClellan let a slow bouncer roll right through the wickets.
 
Chico State tied the game 3-3 on RBI-singles from Cody Slader, Dylan Garcia and Eric Angerer. The Wildcats must have felt they deserved even better, however. They had five line drives hit right at infielders and Toros center fielder made a bid for catch of the year on Miller's blast to center field, robbing him of at least a double and two RBI.
 
Then the Wildcats allowed the go-ahead run in the sixth when Baker intercepted a double-play relay throw intended for Angerer at first. Baker was not on the bag and surrendered an RBI-triple to the next hitter to make it 4-3.
 
Baker allowed five hits and a season-high two walks in six innings. Only two of the Toros' runs were earned. Drew Freeman and Robert Hook pitched scoreless innings before Barker made it seven straight for the relief corps.
 
Miller went 3-for-7 and Slader, Angerer, Clark, Garcia, McClellan and Padilla pounded out two hits apiece. Padilla stretched his hitting streak to 10 games and Clark has hit safely in eight in a row.
 
Chico State improved to 27-7 overall and 19-6 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. Cal State Dominguez Hills, winners of seven of eight coming in, fell to 17-16 overall and 12-13 in the CCAA.
 
The series continues with a doubleheader Saturday at noon and concludes with a single game Sunday at 11 a.m.