It was Senior Day and Little League Day at Nettleton Stadium Sunday, but Dalton Erb stole the show.
 

Erb is not a senior, and he certainly isn't little, but the 6-foot-8 junior right-hander's three-hit shutout was the talk of the picnic area where the little leaguers gathered to get autographs after the game. Erb struck out 11 and walked just one in the team's top starting pitching performance of the season as the Chico State baseball team steamrolled rival Sonoma State 6-0 in the final home game of 2016. The Wildcats took three of four in the series.
 
"Wow!," said one little leaguer as Erb warmed up prior to the game. "He must be at six feet tall!"
 
In the end, the little ones were even more impressed by his pitching. But no one in the long autograph line wore a bigger smile than Erb.
 
After a solid start to the season, Erb had stumbled in his last three starts, allowing 10 earned runs and walking eight in 10 innings.
 
Sunday was a different story.
 
Perhaps taking a cue from Gordon Geddes of the California District 47 Challenger Little League, who threw a beauty of a ceremonial first pitch, Erb let his defense work in the early going, getting 11 ground-ball outs in the first five frames.
 
Then he switched from the heavy ball to the dark one.
 

Erb struck out nine of the last 13 hitters he faced, including a stretch of five in a row. And then brought it full circle with a game-inning groundout to second.
 
The Wildcats stormed out of the bullpen and dugout to congratulate him, understanding that any title aspirations they have rest partially in the right hand of their hulking pitcher. 
 
Chico State moved into sole possession of first place in the California Collegiate Athletic Association North Division standings with the win, improving to 28-14 overall and 18-12 in the CCAA. The Wildcats lead Cal State Monterey Bay by a game, Cal State East Bay by 1.5 games, and Sonoma State (16-24, 14-15 CCAA) by 3.5.
 
The top three teams in the North Division will advance to the CCAA Championship Tournament. With eight games to play in the regular season, the Wildcats' magic number to lock up a spot is five.
 
Andru Cardenas went 3-for-4 with a two-run single and Dillon Kelley was 2-for-5 with a two-run single to lead the Chico State offensive attack. Cameron Santos also had a pair of hits to stretch his hitting streak to nine games. Ben Gamba was 1-for-4 with two runs scored and drove in his CCAA-leading 50^th run of the season.
 
The Wildcats opened the scoring in the third when Santos drove in Casey Bennett (who raced base three times and scored twice) with a single to left.
 
They added three more runs to take a 4-0 lead in the fifth. Santos singled and scored on Gamba's double to left-center before Cody Snider walked and Josh Falco was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Cardenas' ground single up the middle plated two more runs.
 

The Wildcats tacked on two insurance runs in the sixth when Bennett and Gamba walked and Kelley hit a two-run chopper through the left side.
 
Chico State will play a four-game series at San Francisco State next weekend before wrapping up the regular season with a four-game series at Stanislaus State May 6-8.