HOUSTON – Jimbo Pernetti and Casey Costello made memories that will last a lifetime and the Chico State baseball team made an early lead stand up in a 6–3 victory over St. Mary's (Texas) Saturday on the second day of the Houston Winter Invitational.
Pernetti pounded a two-run homer over the 404-feet marker in deep left-center field at Minute Maid Park, capping a four-run third inning. Costello posted six straight shutout innings, scattering five singles, to earn the win and improve to 2-0.
Jae Wagner pitched the ninth to collect his fourth save in as many tries for the Wildcats, who improved to 7-3. They'll wrap up their Texas trip against No. 3 Central Missouri Sunday morning at 8, Pacific.
Three St. Mary's errors set the table for the Wildcats in the third. Dillon Kelley's sacrifice fly gave them a 2–0 lead, and then Pernetti's second home run of the season doubled the lead.
The Wildcats stranded six runners over the next four frames, however, and St. Mary's closed the gap with two runs in the seventh.
Casey Costello posted five scoreless innings to earn the win. He is now
2-0 in three starts with a sparkling 0.56 ERA.
But Chico State answered with two in the eighth. Andru Cardenas' bunt single loaded the bases following walks to Sonny Cortez and Jerrett Maas, and then Cortez and Maas both scored on wild pitches to make it 6–2.
The Rattlers (4-5) got a run back in the bottom-half of the inning, but Wagner slammed the door in the ninth.
Pernetti, Cardenas, and Tyler Stofiel had two hits apiece for the Wildcats. Maas scored two runs.
Cortez has now reached base in all 10 games this season.
