SAN FRANCISCO – Chico State played over seven and a half hours of baseball Saturday afternoon and split a doubleheader at San Francisco State. The 'Cats dropped game one 6-4 and battled to win the second 9-8 behind a three-run homer from Dallas Porter.
 
The Wildcats' bats stayed warm throughout a very nice day in the Bay Area. Porter's dinger – a three-run blast to left in the ninth that extended Chico State's lead to 9-5 – was the highlight, and came in his only at-bat of the day.
 
Sonny Cortez once again set the table for the lineup, going 5-for-9 with two runs in the two games. Josh Falco went 3-3 with a run in game one. Dillion Kelley went 4-for-4 with two runs and an RBI in game two. Meanwhile, Ben Gamba raised his season RBI total to 55.
 
The Chico State pitching staff did not enjoy its finest day. The 'Cats walked 13 batters, hit four, and balked twice. Neither Wildcat starter would get past the fourth inning. Stuart Bradley, Grant Wright, and Steven Baker all threw in both games out of the pen.
 

Bradley earned the win in the nightcap, improving to 5-1. Baker got the final out for his first save of the campaign.
 
The Gators were no slouches at the plate either and the heart of their lineup carried most of the load. Their 2-3-4 hitters – Bryce Brooks, Myles Franklin, and Ryan Burke – combined to go 13-for-24 with seven RBI, five walks, and six runs scored.
 
Game one of the day saw the 'Cats continue to struggle with many of the  things that have made them so good over the years. Only one error shows up in the box score, but the small mistakes gave the Gators chances to capitalize, and they did.
 
The Wildcats keep a statistic known as "free 90s," used to describe a runner who advances a base without the benefit of a hit (i.e. walks, passed balls, wild pitches, balks). In game one, the Wildcats gave up 15 free 90s to the Gators, or 1,350 free feet on the basepaths.
 
Many of those free 90s led to the Gators' six runs.
 
The scoring started in the second inning as Chico State got on the board with an Andru Cardenas' RBI fielder's choice. The lead wouldn't last long. In the bottom half of the inning, the Gators pushed three runs across on four hits.
 
The score remained the same, despite opportunities for both sides, until the sixth inning, when the Gators used a walk and wild pitch to help fuel a two-run rally for a 5-1 lead.
 
As has often been the case in 2016, Chico State put up a fight. In the seventh, Gamba's two-run triple cut the deficit in half. A small rally began again in the top of the eighth but only one run would come of it.
 
San Francisco State would bite back in the bottom of the eighth, adding a run to give themselves a little breathing room.
 
The 'Cats went quietly in the ninth.
 
Game two, to be short, was a wild one that included four-run innings, constant fan chatter from both sides of the stands, a four-run comeback, and an ejection. And that was only the first three innings.
 
After the 'Cats jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top half of the first, starter Hunter Haworth struggled to find his command and the Gators managed to get two runs back. 
 
After escaping one bases-loaded jam, Haworth would see the lead totally disappear.  Headed to the fourth, Chico's starter was out of the game with the score tied.
 
San Francisco State took the lead with a run in the fourth inning, and the Wildcats seemed to be letting their great start slip away.
 
In the midst of all the action and commotion surrounding the game, the 'Cats dialed in and found the energy they needed.
 
They went to work in the top of the fifth. Back-to-back singles and three wild pitches  later, the Wildcats had the lead at 6-5.
 
Porter entered the game in the bottom half the inning for defensive purposes, and made three solid plays from short, which again fired up the dugout reserve squad.
 
While the solid defense was nice to see from the senior transfer, his impact on the game really came in the top half of the seventh. With two on base and one out, Porter got a pitch he really liked and sent it high into the air and over the left field fence for his first home run of the season.
 
In the final frame of the seven-inning affair, San Francisco had two on with two out and hit a three-run homer to almost the same spot.
 
Steven Baker was called on for the second time Saturday and needed only one pitch, resulting in a ground ball to second, to secure the victory and Saturday's split.
 
Chico State is now 30-15 overall with a 20-13 conference record. San Francisco is 20-22 on the year with a 12-20 CCAA mark.
 
The Wildcats' lead atop the CCAA's North Division over Cal State Monterey Bay dipped to a half game Saturday after the Otters swept a doubleheader from Cal State San Marcos. Cal State East Bay is one game behind the Wildcats.
 
Saturday's win, coupled with Sonoma State's split at Stanislaus State, lowered the Wildcats' magic number to clinch a CCAA Championship Tournament berth to two. Any combination of two Chico State wins and Sonoma State losses would wrap up a spot in the postseason for the Wildcats.
 
The Wildcats have five games remaining and Sonoma State six. The Seawolves host a doubleheader against Stanislaus State Sunday.
 
Chico State's four-game series at San Francisco State concludes with a single game Sunday at noon. The Wildcats will wrap up the regular season with a four-game series at Stanislaus State next weekend.