Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 A month after collecting his 400^th collegiate win, Chico State Head Coach Dave Taylor earned numbers 300 and 301 with the Wildcats by making all the right moves in a doubleheader sweep of Cal Poly Pomona Saturday.
 
Taylor stuck with starter Nick Baker after the senior surrendered the tying run in the ninth. Baker escaped the jam. Taylor turned to pinch-hitter Jeffrey Ortega with the bases loaded in the bottom-half of the inning and Ortega ripped a walkoff single for a 3-2 win.
 Taylor went to the bullpen twice in the second game and came up aces in a 4-2 win. Robert Hook wriggled the Wildcats out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth and threw three spotless innings before Luke Barker came on to close the game in the ninth.
 
Baker's win was the 30^th of his Chico State career and clinched a California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Championship Tournament berth for the 6^th-ranked Wildcats. They improved to 35-8 overall and 27-7 in the CCAA, becoming the fifth Chico State team to win at least 35 of its first 43 games and first since Taylor's first season – 2007.
 
Baker is the third Wildcats pitcher to reach 30 wins, joining John-Eric Hernandez (41 wins from 1997-2000) and Bush Dalrymple (33 from 1947-50). He's now 8-1 on the season with five complete-games and a 1.71 ERA.
 
The Wildcats led 2-1 behind Baker and RBI singles from Peter Miller and Eric Angerer before the Broncos tied it in the ninth. Taylor went to the mound and had closer Luke Barker warmed in the pen, but chose to stay with Baker. He got a groundout and then his ninth strikeout of the day to get out of the jam.
 
Ryan McClellan led off the bottom-half of the inning with a single up the middle. Pinch-hitter Gordon Deacon bunted McClellan into scoring position before Connor Huesers was hit by a pitch and Miller drew a walk. Taylor summoned Ortega off the bench and he delivered a line single to left-center for the Wildcats' fourth walkoff win in nine games.
 
Taylor turned to his bullpen surprisingly early in the nightcap, pulling unbeaten Brad Lohse with the bases loaded and nobody out on the sixth. It seems he knows what he is doing. Hook got out of the mess allowing only a game-tying sacrifice fly and retired all nine hitters he faced to earn the win and improve to 5-0 on the season.
 
The Wildcats took the lead in the seventh on a two-run rally sparked by Huesers' leadoff single. Deacon pinch-bunted him to second. Huesers moved to third on an errant pickoff throw and scored on a wild pitch. Chico State tacked on another run when Cody Slader singled, stole second, and scored on Ryne Clark's base hit.
 Perhaps tempted to stay with the red-hot Hook in the ninth, Taylor instead turned to Barker in the ninth and he converted his 12^th save in as many tries.
 
McClellan and Clayton Gelfand drove in the Wildcats' first two runs of the game.
 
Baker, Angerer, Clark, McClellan and the rest of Chico State's dozen seniors will be honored during Sunday's "Senior Day" ceremonies beginning at 10:35 a.m. The doubleheader is scheduled to start at 11 a.m.
 Chico State, Sonoma State and UC San Diego have all secured a spot in the CCAA Championship Tournament May 8-11 at Banner Island Ballpark in Stockton.
 
The 11^th-ranked Broncos fell to 29-13 overall and 22-12 in the CCAA Saturday and their magic number to clinch a CCAA Championship Tournament berth remains at one. They need at least one win in Sunday's doubleheader or a Cal State East Bay loss in one of its final six games to become the fourth team to clinch a CCAA Championship Tournament berth.
 
Chico State ended the Broncos' CCAA regular-season title hopes with Saturday's sweep. The Wildcats lead Sonoma State by percentage points and will finish the regular season with a four-game series against the Seawolves. The first three games will be in Rohnert Park and the regular-season finale will take place at Raley Field in Sacramento on Sunday, May 4.
 
UC San Diego is also within striking distance and will play its final four conference games against Cal State San Bernardino May 1-3.
 
Current CCAA Standings
Team                        Rec.        Win%     Games Remaining
Chico State               27-7        .794        6
Sonoma State           20-6        .769        6
UC San Diego          23-9        .719        4
Cal Poly Pomona     22-12      .647        2
Cal State East Bay   19-15      .559        6