After hitting a rough stretch in its past two series, the Chico State baseball team wanted a victory, clean and crisp.
But Mick Jagger was right. You can't always get what you want. Well, if you try sometime you just might find you get what you need.
Oh yeah, and that's a win of any kind.
This one—9-8 over Cal State San Bernardino on Friday—just took 14 innings and 4 hours, 58 minutes for the second marathon the Wildcats found themselves in this month.
Brian Pozos' walk with the bases full brought in Michael Lagier after he led off the final, fateful, 14th inning by getting hit by a pitch.
That was fairly typical on a night when the Wildcats received a record 17 walks—the prior team mark for a game was 12—along with four wild pitches, three hit batters and four Coyote errors resulting in 28 free bases.
Time and again, though, the Cal State San Bernardino bullpen found a way out of its own mess. The Wildcats left 21 runners on base including having the bases full with one out in the ninth, 12th, and 13th innings.
Chico State's victory leaves the Wildcats' record at 11-8 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) and 15-10 overall. The Coyotes dropped their fifth straight game to fall to 7-10 in the CCAA and 7-16 overall.
Chico State relievers Anthony Baleto, Jae Wagner, and Dan Beavers were nothing short of magnificent. Baleto retired all seven batters he faced in a flawless 2.1 innings. Wagner worked his way through four shutout innings, starting with the ninth as he struck out three. Beavers (1-1) got the win by taking care of the final two innings in scoreless fashion. They combined for 8.1 innings without surrendering a single, solitary run.
Cameron Santos, Louie Canjura, Casey Henderson, Pozos, and Tyler Stofiel each had two hits with Canjura contributing two runs scored and two runs batted in, too. Santos and Pozos scored twice while Dustin Miller drove in two runs. RJ Hassey had four walks, tying a Wildcat record for a single game, joining five others.
By the time that happened, starting pitcher Casey Costello was long gone. In line for the win when he departed, Costello persevered through five innings that included at times rain and a strong wind. But he had to settle for a no-decision after the Coyotes struck for a tying, four-run rally in the sixth against multiple relievers.
Chico State staked Costello to a 2-0 lead in the first inning when Stantos tripled, and Canjura singled before he moved his way around the bases on a wild pitch and a pair of groundouts. In the next inning, Pozos singled and stole second before scoring on Miller's squeeze bunt.
The Wildcats would lead 3-0 after two innings and then 7-3 after the fourth, the latter highlighted by a Santos run-scoring single while a sacrifice fly ended up bringing in two runs thanks to the Coyotes not handling the throw from the outfield properly.
The Wildcats' first extra-inning extravaganza this season came March 9 when the Wildcats played in their longest game in program history, a 15-inning endurance test at Cal State Monterey Bay that ended with a 12-11 defeat. Before that game, Chico State was 12-4 overall and in first place in the California Collegiate Athletic Association at 8-2. Beginning with that setback, the Wildcats found themselves on the wrong end of four straight one-run games as part of a 2-6 slide that featured chances and some sloppy play in the field.
They reversed it by triumphing in another close call, and the Coyotes provided the opportunity in an unexpected way on Friday at Nettleton Stadium. Entering the series, San Bernardino had a CCAA-worst ERA of 7.87. Once the Wildcats had an 8-4 lead in the fifth inning, though, they would not score again until the 14th, a span of eight zeroes on the scoreboard. That type of pitching isn't surprising for Chico State, which leads the CCAA with a team ERA of 3.19. Chico State pitchers combined for eight zeroes from the seventh inning on.
The Wildcats' half of the 14th began like many of their others with runners reaching. Lagier was hit by a Derrick Carter (0-1) pitch. RJ Hassey sacrificed Lagier over to second. Casey Henderson singled off third baseman Kyle Csakan on a diving attempt, leaving the ball trickling into shallow left field. Then Kyle Blakeman walked to load the bases with one out to bring up Pozos.
Saturday's doubleheader was moved up to 11 a.m. in an effort to get it in before expected weather hits Nettleton Stadium. Sunday's series finale is set for 11 a.m. as well.
Friday's first game, originally scheduled to start at 6 p.m., was moved up to 4 p.m., a good thing because otherwise the teams would have played even later into the night at Nettleton.
The games on Saturday and Sunday will be broadcast locally on AM-1290 KPAY. Links to video and audio streams, along with live stats, are available at www.chicowildcats.com.
