LOS ANGELES—Desperate for a win after four straight frustrating losses, the Chico State baseball team saw its 1-0 lead disappear on an RBI-grounder in the penultimate inning of Friday's doubleheader at Cal State LA.
Instead of getting down, the Wildcats doubled down. RJ Hassey led off with a double, Kyle Blakeman drove in the go-ahead run with a pinch-hit double, and Turner Olson doubled in another run in the top of the seventh as the Chico State baseball team bounced back to beat the host Golden Eagles 3-1 Friday evening. Cal State LA won the first game 8-4.
Andrew Schantz, Dan Beavers, and Jae Wagner combined on a five-hitter for the Wildcats, now 17-14 overall and 13-12 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. Cal State LA, which had won four straight and 12 of 14 heading into the nightcap, is now 18-10 and 15-8 in the CCAA.
The series concludes with a single game Saturday at 11 a.m. The game will be broadcast locally on AM-1290 KPAY and streamed online. Links to the online audio stream and live stats, along with Cal State LA's pay-per-view live stream are available at www.chicowildcats.com.
Andrew Schantz threw four scoreless innings in his first start as a Wildcat.
Schantz made his first start as a Wildcat a good one. The senior spun four shutout innings, allowing two hits and one walk while striking out three.
The Wildcats grabbed the lead in the second when Steinman reached via plunk and scored on Hassey's two-out RBI double.
Beavers pitched a scoreless fifth but ran into a bit of trouble with one out in the sixth, surrendering a walk and a single. Wagner was called on to try to end the rally. A base hit loaded the bases before Sean Watkins hit a chopper to third.
Cameron Santos selected to try to turn two and end the inning, but Watkins beat the relay throw to first and the tying run scored.
Wagner kept the game tied by getting an inning-ending grounder to second.
Hassey doubled down the left field line to open the bottom half of the frame. He moved to third on Tyler Stofiel's fly ball to deep right. Blakeman then pinch-hit for the red hot Dustin Miller as Head Coach Dave Taylor elected to go with a righty-lefty matchup. Blakeman fell behind but fouled off three two-strike pitches before lining the go-ahead hit down the right-field line. Olson finished the scoring with a double to left.
Wagner allowed a one-out single in the bottom half of the frame, but got two fly balls to end the game.
Chico State led briefly in the opening game after Cameron Santos walked and eventually scored on Louie Canjura's grounder. But the Golden Eagles struck for three runs in the bottom half of the frame and never trailed again.
Casey Henderson scored on a passed ball in the third to trim the lead to 3-2. But again, the Golden Eagles answered with a crooked number to go up 5-2.
The Wildcats got to within 5-3 in the sixth. Miller started things with a two-out double and Olson drove him in with a single to right. But that was as close as they got.
Starter Grant Larson took the loss, allowing three earned runs in five innings while striking out seven. William Curless made an appearance out of the bullpen and pitched a scoreless ninth, allowing just a leadoff walk.
