STOCKTON—The grind isn't a grind when you are 18 to 22. Instead, it is something to look forward to.
 
In 30 years, when the players from the 2018 Chico State baseball team are participating in city league softball, they might balk at having to come back 12 hours after the end of one game to to play another. But for now, they don't seem to mind it one bit.
 
It's a good thing. Because that is the challenge the Wildcats face Friday following a 5-2 loss to UC San Diego in a winners' bracket game in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Tournament at Banner Island Ballpark in Stockton.
 
The final out was recorded at 10:54. Chico State will take on Cal State Monterey Bay in an elimination game at 11 a.m.
 
"We've been doing this our whole career," Wildcats senior first baseman RJ Hassey said. "The grind isn't really new to us. We have that Chico State mentality. We just want to get back on the field whenever we can. That one hurts obviously. We're gonna sleep on it but we're excited to get after it tomorrow."
 
The winner of Friday morning's elimination game will face UC San Diego Friday at 7 p.m. for a spot in Saturday's title game.
 
"This team is built on pitching and we're deep enough to continue to play a couple games tomorrow and a couple games on Saturday," Head Coach Dave Taylor said. "We've got to believe in that."
 
UC San Diego hit a pair of two-run homers—the 22nd and 23rd home runs hit in the first two days of the tournament—to take control of the game.
 
"Facing San Diego's offense and Preston Mott—one of the better pitchers in the conference—we had our work cut out for us," Taylor said. "Preston would probably tell you he probably didn't have his best stuff tonight, but it was good enough to beat us. We didn't take the best at-bats the first five innings. Then they turned it over to the bullpen, which was very strong. We were able to get a few things going, but our strike zone recognition wasn't very good. We chased up. We chased down."
 
Justin Beck's two-run homer in the fourth gave UC San Diego the lead.
 
The Wildcats missed a prime opportunity to tie the game or better in the bottom half of the inning. They loaded the bases against Mott on walks to Hassey, Casey Henderson, and Dustin Miller. That was the end of Mott's evening.
 
Kyle Lucke got the call from the bullpen to face the Wildcats' hottest hitter, Kyle Blakeman, with two down. Blakeman fouled off a pair of full-count offerings before chasing a high fastball and coming up empty.
 
At that point, they were hitless in eight at-bats with runners in scoring position and just 1-for-12 when men on base.
 
"Early in the game we were a couple swings away from changing the whole momentum," said Hassey.
 
Another two-run homer for the Tritons, this one off the bat of Zander Clarke, pushed UC San Diego's lead to 4-0 in the fifth.
 
Chico State broke through in the sixth, cutting the lead in half. Turner Olson drew a leadoff walk, and with two down, Miller ripped an RBI-double to right center. Blakeman followed with another two-out hit, a grounder up the middle, that plated Miller to make it 4-2.
 
Wildcats starter Grant Larson's night was done after the sixth. The sophomore left-hander from San Diego's High Tech High School absorbed his first loss in three starts against his hometown team. He beat them in last season's CCAA Tournament title game and again during the regular season, allowing a combined three runs in 12 innings.
 
Thursday the Tritons finally got to him with a pair of two-run homers.
 
Andrew Lopez bridged the gap to the ninth for Chico State. He retired the side in order in the seventh and allowed an unearned run in the eighth on a leadoff walk, a throwing error on a stolen base when whichever infielder charged with covering the bag arrived late, and then a passed ball.
 
Andrew Schantz pitched the ninth and looked electric, striking out the side on just 11 pitches.
 
"Against that offensive team I thought we pitched well," Taylor said. "Grant kept us in the game and our bullpen looked good."
 
Lopez and Schantz, along with the eight-inning outing by Wednesday starter Casey Costello and Larson's six innings of work Thursday, leave Taylor with plenty of fresh arms and options.
 
Now the Wildcats are hoping to make sure he has a chance to use them over the next two days as they try to win the conference tournament for the this year in a row.

GAME NOTES—Hassey walked three times, extending his consecutive games reached streak to 12. His on-base percentage during that time is .545. On the season, Hassey sports a CCAA-best OBP of .503, which ranks fourth in Chico State single-season history…Blakeman, who doubled off the top of the wall leading off the top of the fourth, is now 4-for-9 in the tournament and has driven in four of the Wildcats' six runs…Tyler Stofiel was named to the Google Cloud Academic All-District Team prior to Thursday's game. Look for the story at www.chicowildcats.com Friday morning.
 
 
2018 CCAA Baseball Championship
Banner Island Ballpark | Stockton
Wednesday, May 9
Game 1 – 11 a.m. – No. 1 Cal State Monterey Bay 14, No. 6 San Francisco State 11
Game 2 – 3 p.m. – No. 2 UC San Diego 19, No. 5 Cal State LA 1
Game 3 – 7 p.m. –  No. 3 Chico State 4, No. 4 Cal Poly Pomona 3

Thursday, May 10
Game 4 – 11 a.m. – Cal State LA 10, San Francisco State 7 (San Francisco State eliminated)
Game 5 – 3 p.m. –Cal Poly Pomona 12, Cal State Monterey Bay 5
Game 6 – 7 p.m. – UC San Diego 5, Chico State 2
 
Friday, May 11
Game 7 – 11 a.m. – Cal State Monterey Bay vs. Chico State (elimination game)
Game 8 – 3 p.m. – Cal State LA vs. Cal Poly Pomona (elimination game)
Game 9 – 7 p.m. – winner of Game 6 vs. UC San Diego (possible elimination game)

Saturday, May 12
(if UC San Diego loses Game 9)
Game 10 – 12 p.m. – winner of Game 8 vs. loser of Game 9
Game 11 – 4 p.m. – Championship: winner of Game 9 vs. Winner of Game 10
(if UCSD wins Game 9)
Game 10 – 12 p.m. – Championship: winner of Game 8 vs. winner of Game 9
Game 11 – 4 p.m. – If necessary