HAYWARD – On a zany day in the East Bay, Chico State reliever AJ Epstein provided some semblance of sanity for the Wildcats' pitching staff. Otherwise, both offenses went crazy. After a 5-4 loss in the first game, which was started March 4 before it was halted by rain in the bottom of the eighth, the Wildcats finished the series with a 15-13 win before losing a six-run lead in the second game when the Pioneers walked off with a 9-8 win in extra innings.
The 23
rd-ranked Wildcats are now 23-9 overall and 13-7 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. Their lead atop the CCAA North Division standings over Sonoma State and Cal State Monterey Bay is down to a half game.
The doubleheader featured 37 runs on 64 hits and seven errors. Chico State used five pitchers in the first game and seven more in the second. Only Epstein recorded more than eight outs. The Pioneers used 10 pitchers and none completed more than three innings.
Ben Gamba and Cameron Santos had six hits apiece in the doubleheader. Gamba homered and drove in seven runs. Santos smacked two doubles, a triple, and scored five times. Dillon Kelley and Andru Cardenas has five hits apiece.
Coming off a three-game series at San Marcos, the Wildcats returned home early Monday morning around 3 a.m., went to class Monday, and then took a bus to the East Bay Monday night.
They played like a tired team, committing five errors on the day. The last, a muffed throw by Gamba with two down in the seventh of the scheduled seven-inning second game, allowed East Bay to score the tying run.
The Pioneers, who trailed 8-2 after three-and-a-half innings, won it in the eighth when Zach Perugi hit Steven Baker's 0-2 pitch through the right side to plate Rudy Navarro, who stole second one pitch before.
The Wildcats were the ones who got the comeback win the first game.
They trailed 8-6 with just one down and runners on the corners in the bottom of the third in Tuesday's first full game when Head Coach Dave Taylor called Epstein from the bullpen. The lefty had already given the Wildcats a perfect inning in the completion of the halted game.
He got them out of the jam, allowing just a sacrifice fly, and then put up zeroes in the fourth and fifth as the Wildcats rallied. Santos' two-run triple in the fifth gave Chico State a 10-9 lead.
The lead changed hands for the fifth time as the Pioneers got a two-run homer in the sixth before the Wildcats tied it with a run in the eighth.
Chico State added four more runs in the ninth, and the Wildcats needed them all. Sonny Cortez, Santos and Josh Falco had RBI-doubles in the inning, and Gamba singled in a run.
The Pioneers rallied in the bottom of the ninth and had the bases loaded with nobody out after cutting the lead to 15-12.
A sacrifice fly and groundout made it 15-13 before Baker struck out Chris Porter with the bases loaded to end the game.
Stuart Bradley (4-1) pitched two thirds of an inning for the win.
Santos went 4-for-5 with two doubles, a triple, three runs and three RBI. Gamba was 2-for-6 with three RBI. Falco was 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBI. Cardenas was 3-for-5. Cody Snider doubled, tripled and drove in two runs. Sonny Cortez was 2-for-4 with three runs scored and an RBI.
In the second game, Gamba was 4-for-5 with a two-run homer and four RBI. Kelley was 3-for-4 with a double and RBI. Santos and Cardenas had two hits apiece.
Cortez, Gamba and Santos stretched their hitting streaks to 16, 14 and 11 games, respectively. Cortez has reached base safely in 27 straight and Gamba 19 in a row.
HALTED GAMEThe Wildcats threatened but stranded two runners in the ninth in the completion of a game halted by rain back on March 4. Chico State trailed 5-4 when the game picked up heading to the bottom of the eighth.
AJ Epstein pitched a 1-2-3 eighth to keep the Wildcats within a run. Santos gave them some life with a one-out single and Gamba drew a walk. Gamba was forced out at second on Kelley's grounder and then Snider grounded out to second to end the game.
Santos finished 3-for-5 and Gamba was 1-for-3 with a pair of RBI. Kelley and Dallas Porter drove in a run apiece.
Chico State's three errors led to a pair of unearned runs. Baker (now 4-3) took the loss, allowing five runs (three earned) on eight hits in five innings as a starter back on March 4.
ON DECKThe Wildcats host Cal State Dominguez Hills in a three-game series this weekend beginning with a doubleheader Saturday at noon. Sunday's series finale is set to start at 11 a.m.
