SAN MARCOS—A week ago, Head Coach Dave Taylor turned to pitcher Christian Stiegele to make his first start for the Chico State baseball team.
Stiegele is on his way to making many more.
Seven shutout innings from the junior led the Wildcats to a 7-2 victory over the Cal State San Marcos Cougars on Sunday as Chico State claimed its second straight series and now has won eight of its last 10 games.
Kyle Blakeman had three hits including a two-run home run, and Cameron Santos was 3 of 5 with a triple.
The Wildcats improved to 24-16 overall and 20-14 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA), good for third place in the conference with 10 games to play. The Cougars moved to 11-21 in the CCAA and 16-22 overall.
In his first starting chance, Stiegele limited UC San Diego to one run in four innings of a 4-2 victory on April 9 that allowed the Wildcats to claim that four-game series.
He was even better on Sunday. Stiegele (2-0) didn't surrender a run to a team that had 19 of them in the series' first three games. He allowed four hits and two walks while striking out five in a brilliant 92-pitch outing.
Blakeman continued his torrid streak as his three hits Sunday included a two-run home run that had the Wildcats up 3-0 in the fifth inning. Blakeman was 8 of 17 with three doubles, the home run and two walks in the four-game series as part of a stretch where he has 17 hits in his last 36 at-bats, dating to March 30 against Cal State LA. During that span, he's raised his average 71 points to .291.
Chico State kept adding on after Blakeman's blast. In the seventh inning, a Louie Canjura safety squeeze scored Casey Henderson before Santos ripped a run-scoring triple to right-center field that scored Blakeman for a 5-0 advantage.
On Saturday, Santos became the second Wildcat with 200 career hits, joining Jeff Walker, who had 226 from 2002-05. Santos now has 205 after Sunday.
The Wildcats then scored two runs in the eighth without the benefit of a hit. Dustin Miller was hit by a pitch, and Tyler Stofiel walked. A Turner Olson sacrifice bunt put them both in scoring position. Miller scored when Henderson walked on a wild pitch. Stofiel scored when RJ Hassey reached on an error as his sac bunt was misplayed.
Stofiel gave Stiegele a 1-0 lead to work with in the second inning as he singled up the middle to plate Alex DeVito after he had walked to start the inning.
Blakeman provided more of a cushion in the fifth. Henderson was hit by a pitch, and Blakeman soon deposited a pitch over the wall in right-center to score them both.
Henderson only had one hit in the series, but he reached base 12 times. He drew 10 walks, including tying the program record for a single game with four in Friday's contest.
That helped Chico State score 34 runs in the four games.
Stiegele didn't need much offensive support on Sunday, though. He retired the Cougars in order in three of the first four innings and didn't allow a runner to reach third base until there were two outs in the sixth inning.
Andrew Schantz tossed the final two innings in relief as the Wildcats improved to 11-0 in games they don't make an error in this season.
Cal State Monterey Bay leads the CCAA at 22-10 with UC San Diego second at 19-12. Behind the 20-14 Wildcats in a tight pack are Sonoma State and Cal State LA, both at 18-14, with Cal Poly Pomona at 17-15 and another cluster of Cal State East Bay (16-16), San Francisco State (16-16), and Stanislaus State (16-17) close behind.
The Wildcats host Cal State Dominguez Hills (9-23 CCAA, 12-26) in a four-game series that starts at 6 p.m. on Friday at Nettleton Stadium. A doubleheader is at noon on Saturday with the series finale set for 11 a.m. on Sunday. All games will be broadcast locally on AM-1290 KPAY with links to video and audio streams, along with live stats, available on the baseball schedule page and in the calendar on the homepage of the Wildcats Athletics website.
