ALAMEDA – The Chico State baseball team put on an offensive display in the East Bay Saturday, sweeping a double-dip from Holy Names University 18-0 and 14-0 at the College of Alameda.
Not to be outdone, the Wildcats' pitching staff had quite a day as well. Steven Baker and four relievers combined on a 3-hitter in the opener. Dalton Erb and two relievers combined on a one-hitter in the nightcap.
The Wildcats racked up 34 hits to Holy Names' four. They also played error-free ball while the Hawks committed 10 miscues.
Chico State improved to 10-2 with the series sweep. Holy Names fell to 2-11.
Baker set the tone as the opening-game starter, allowing just three hits in six innings while striking out seven while improving to 2-0 on the season. Grant Wright and Zach Smart posted scoreless innings in relief and Noah Villegas struck out the side in the ninth.
Erb, Torgen Soderlund and Hunter Haworth made sure the momentum never shifted in the second game. Erb allowed just an infield single while striking out six in four frames to earn the win in the seven-inning affair. He is now 2-1 on the season.
Soderlund backed him with two perfect innings in relief, striking out three. Haworth worked the seventh, striking out two in a 1-2-3 frame.
Offensively, Ben Gamba was one of many catalysts and made the loudest contact.
Gamba was 3-for-4 with a homer and five RBI in the opener. Cody Snider, Jimbo Pernetti and Jerrett Maas drove in two runs apiece.
Chico State scored in eight of nine innings and 11 different Wildcats combined for 19 hits. Maas and Gamba had three hits apiece. Sonny Cortez, Snider, Cameron Santos and Dallas Porter banged out two each.
Dylan Yamasaki had an RBI double in a two-run second that gave Chico State a 3-0 edge. Pernetti's two-run single made it 5-0 in the fifth.
The 'Cats put up a snowman in the seventh, scoring eight times after Santos' leadoff triple, to put the game away.
Gamba's two-run bomb in the eighth made it 16-0 and he and Maas drove in runs in the ninth.
The Wildcats scored six times in the second inning of the nightcap and rolled from there. Snider had an RBI-triple and Josh Falco doubled home two runs in the inning. Gamba also got in on the action with an RBI single.
Chico State stretched the lead to 9-0 with three more runs in the fourth. Pernetti provided the big hit in the inning: a two-run double to left.
The Wildcats blew the game open in the fifth, sending 10 hitters to the plate in a five-run frame. Cody Bistline started the inning with a base hit, Dillon Kelley clubbed a two-run single, and Falco and Kyle Dixon drove in runs.
Kelley was 3-for-4 with three RBI. Pernetti and Falco also drove in three runs apiece. Cortez, Snyder and Casey Bennett finished with two hits each.
The Wildcats open California Collegiate Athletic Association play next weekend with a four-game home series against Cal State Monterey Bay beginning Friday at 2 p.m.
