Box Score STOCKTON – A laugher was the best medicine for the Chico State baseball team Friday. The 9
th-ranked Wildcats snapped their first three-game losing streak of the season with a 10-3 win against Sonoma State in the second round of the California Collegiate Athletic Association Championship Tournament, eliminating their archrivals from the tournament.
Marcos Lara pitched three and a third scoreless innings in his first relief appearance of the season and the Wildcats scored five times in the fifth and three more in the eighth to advance to another elimination game Saturday at 3 p.m. against the loser of Friday night's Cal Poly Pomona-UC San Diego game. The winner of that game will play tonight's Cal Poly Pomona-UC San Diego winner Saturday night at 7.
Lara got the final out in relief of Brad Lohse after Sonoma State had scored three times in the fifth to take a 4-2 lead. He got the final out of the inning and then nine more, allowing two hits and two walks while striking out four to improve to 8-3 on the season.
The Wildcats reclaimed the lead for the third time with a five-spot in the bottom-half of the frame. Peter Miller doubled home a run, Ryan McClellan hit a rocket two-run double that ricocheted off the third baseman, Connor Huesers singled home a run and Cody Slader's safety squeeze made it 7-4.
With the wind blowing hard out to left-center, the Wildcats were eager for some insurance. They got it in the eighth. Ryne Clark cracked a two-run homer to left and McClellan made it 10-3 with a run-scoring single.
Luke Barker pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to close it out.
Chico State, the top-ranked team in the West Region entering the weekend, improved to 38-12. Sonoma State, clinging to the sixth spot in the region, fell to 27-16.
Eric Angerer, McClellan, Miller and Huesers finished with two hits apiece and Cody Slader drove in two runs. Angerer reached base four times in five plate appearances and has reached safely in 17 straight. He's hitting .460 with a .585 on-base percentage. Clark extended his hitting streak to eight games with his eighth-inning blast. He's hitting .486 during that stretch.
The NCAA Championship Tournament field will be announced Sunday night at 7 p.m.
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