POMONA – The Chico State baseball team bounced back beautifully from a 9-2 opening-game loss with a 13-5 win in the nightcap in a doubleheader split at Cal Poly Pomona Saturday.

Ben Gamba drove in three runs and Dillon Kelley, Josh Falco and Cody Bistline two runs apiece as the Wildcats' offense erupted after being held to five hits for the first time in 20 games in the opener.
 
AJ Epstein pitched beautifully in relief, surrendering just one run on four hits in five frames, improving to 2-0.
 

The split was a nice result for Chico State, which jumped back into the top spot in the California Collegiate Athletic Association North Division standings. Cal State Monterey Bay and Sonoma State both dropped a pair of games Saturday.
 
The Wildcats are now 15-10 in the CCAA and lead Cal State Monterey Bay by one game, Sonoma State by two, and Cal State East Bay by two and a half.
 
In Saturday's second game, the Wildcats batted around in the second to take the lead for keeps. Andru Cardenas and Bistline opened the scoring with back-to-back RBI doubles. Gamba walked with the bases loaded, and Kelley came through with a two-out, two-run single to make it 5-0.
 
That didn't get them out of the woods, however. Cal Poly Pomona scored in the second, third and fourth to cut the lead to 5-4 before Chico State scored three more times in the fifth.
 
Just as he did in the second, Cody Snider got on base to seed the rally and scored on Falco's RBI triple. Falco scored on an error and Cardenas came around on Bistline's RBI-double that made it 8-4.
 
Epstein allowed a run on two hits in the fifth, but put up four straight zeroes after that. Meanwhile, Chico State's offense continued to tack on runs.
 
The Wildcats scored twice in the sixth on Gamba's RBI-double and Falco's sacrifice fly. Cameron Santos' RBI-triple in the seventh pushed the lead to 11-5. In the ninth, Gamba's RBI-single plated Sonny Cortez, and Santos scored on an error.
 
Chico State, ranked No. 28 in the nation, is now 25-12 overall. Cal Poly Pomona is 23-13. The Broncos lead the CCAA's South Division by a game-and-a-half over UC San Diego.
 
The Wildcats were limited to two runs or fewer for just the second time in the last 30 games in Saturday's opener. Their five hits were there fewest since Feb. 28.
 
They tied the score 1-1 in the second when Snider led off with a double and scored on Jerrett Maas' RBI-single.
 
The Broncos battled Chico State ace Clayton Gelfand, who allowed a season-high four earned runs and lasted only five innings due to a high pitch count.
 
The Wildcats still only trailed 4-1 when he departed, but the Broncos scored four times in the sixth against reliever Peter Lecce to break the game open.
 
Chico State scored its only other run in the ninth when Cortez walked, Santos doubled, and Gamba hit a sacrifice fly.
 
The series concludes Sunday with a single game at noon.