Moments after the Chico State baseball team's second walkoff win in as many games to start the season, I joked with Head Coach Dave Taylor that I hoped every game this season wasn't going to be won in the final at-bat. He laughed and agreed. Then, after a short pause, he grinned and said, "Well, I guess I wouldn't mind."
 
Following the Wildcats' wild 12-11 win in 10 innings, Taylor got the win without the worry in the nightcap as the Wildcats completed the series sweep of Menlo College with an 8-1 laugher Sunday on a cold and windy day at Nettleton Stadium.
 
The Wildcats trailed 7-1 after two innings and 10-4 through six as Menlo took advantage of a strong wind blowing out to left and a crucial Chico State error with a two-run homer and three-run double. But the Wildcats rallied with two runs in the seventh and four in the eighth, and then tied the game in the ninth when Cody Snider (who scored the winning run in the bottom of the 9^th of Saturday's season opener) led off with a single and eventually scored on a wild pitch.
 
In the 10^th, the Wildcats rallied against Menlo closer Lucas Ercig – Baseball America's 77^th-ranked college draft prospect – for the second inning in a row.
 

Cameron Santos shot a one-out single up the middle for his fourth hit of the day to cap a gritty at-bat and start the rally. He moved to second on a passed ball and third on a walk before Dillon Kelley beat out at attempted double play on his bases-loaded chopper toward short, allowing Santos to score and setting off the second celebration behind first base in 20 hours for the Wildcats.
 
Santos, hitting in the two-hole, and leadoff man Sonny Cortez, collected six runs apiece Sunday. Kelley led the team with four RBI.
 
In the nightcap, starter Dalton Erb fired five impressive innings, allowing one run on three hits while striking out six, to earn his first win as a Wildcat. Four different relievers backed him with a scoreless frame as Chico State improved to 3-0 on the season.
 
Tony Roque's inside-the-park homer sparked a tiebreaking four-run fifth and sent everyone in attendance home with a Carl's Jr. Western Bacon Cheeseburger voucher.
 
But it was cleanup hitter Josh Falco who came through with perhaps the biggest hit of the day. The Wildcats entered the eighth inning of the first game trailing 10-6. Before it was over, they had tied it when Falco's bases-loaded, two-run double was bobbled, allowing all three runs to come in and tying the game at 10-10.
 
Casey Bennett, Braxton Phillips and Sonny Cortez all had singles in the frame. Santos was hit by a pitch with two down to load the bases before Ben Gamba got plunked to force the first run home, setting the stage for Falco.
 
He ripped a pitch down the left field line and Gamba came all the way around to score when the left fielder failed to pick up the ball cleanly.
 
Chico State had to rally again in the ninth after Menlo re-took the lead in the top-half of the inning with an unearned run. Snider started things with a single to right and then used his speed to make his way around the bases, moving to second on a wild pitch, to third on Bennett's grounder to the right side, and then home on a wild pitch.
 
Santos went 4-for-4 in the game with two doubles, four runs scored, and a pair of RBI. Cortez was 3-for-5 with four runs scored. Falco and Kelley had two hits and two RBI apiece, and Bennett went 3-for-5.
 
Haworth (1-0) got the win with two innings of relief. Grant Wright also came out of the pen to put up a scoreless frame.
 
In the second game, Santos singled and scored on Kelley's sacrifice fly to stake the Wildcats to a 1-0 lead in the first.
 
Erb retired the first nine hitters he faced before allowing a run in the fourth.
 
But Chico State's four-run fifth broke the game open.
 

Roque was the catalyst, stinging a one-out liner to center that the outfielder charged to make a shoestring attempt. He failed to get his glove on it, though, and the ball rolled all the way to the wall. Roque, running all the way, scored standing up after another bobble in the outfield for a 2-1 lead.
 
The Wildcats added on when Cortez was hit by a pitch and Santos slammed an RBI triple off the base of the wall in left-center. They scored two more runs for a 5-1 lead on Snider's bases-loaded walk and Jerrett Maas' infield RBI-single.
 
Chico State scored three more times in the sixth to put the game away. Cortez's single got things started, Kelley drove in a run when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, and Snider slashed a two-run single to right to cap the rally.
 
Cortez and Santos finished with two hits apiece. Kelley and Snider collected two RBI.
 
Noah Villegas, Stuart Bradley, Peter Lecce and Torgen Soderlund each threw an inning in relief, combining to allow just one hit while striking out five.
 
The Wildcats will be back at home next weekend, facing Point Loma in a three-game series scheduled to start Friday at 2 p.m. They'll play a doubleheader Saturday at 11 a.m.