SAN BERNARDINO—Just six days ago the players on the Chico State baseball team woke up on Monday morning in last place in the 11-team California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) standings. The Wildcats will go to bed Saturday night in fourth. The Wildcats swept a doubleheader from Cal State San Bernardino Saturday at Fiscalini Field, winning the first game 4-1 and the second 6-5. Chico State has now won eight games in a row, the last six of which have come on the road in the past six days.
 
Now 8-0 on the road this season, the Wildcats improved to 12-7 overall and 8-6 in the CCAA. Cal State San Bernardino slipped to 9-14 and 6-12.
 
William Curless and Kenton Carruthers combined on a two-hitter in the opener. Alex DeVito homered three times on the day, including twice in the second game, and Brandon Hernandez drove in the winning run in the nightcap with an RBI-single in the top of the sixth inning of the second game.
 
The series concludes Sunday at 11 a.m. and will be broadcast locally on Newstalk AM-1290 and FM 102.9. Links to streaming audio and live stats are also available at www.chicowildcats.com.
 
Curless allowed a run on two hits in six-and-two-thirds innings of work to collect the win in the opener, improving to 2-0. He no-hit the Coyotes through four before surrendering a solo home run leading off the fifth.

 

Carruthers entered with two out and two on in the seventh and struck out a pinch-hitter on three pitches. He worked a 1-2-3 eighth and got the first out of the ninth before a walk and hit by pitch brought the tying run to the plate. Carruthers got out of the jam and earned his first collegiate save with a strikeout and fielders' choice.
 
DeVito drilled a leadoff homer in the second to put Chico State ahead for good. The Wildcats doubled their lead in the fifth. Jorge Perez led off the inning with a single, moved to second on Griffin Hennessey's sacrifice bunt, and scored on JT Navarro's base hit to right field.
 
The Wildcats tacked on insurance runs in the seventh and eighth. Aaron Lizarraga led off the seventh with an infield single, advanced to second on Perez's sacrifice, and scored on Myles Moran's pinch-hit, RBI-single to right.
 
The Wildcats capped the scoring in the eighth when Hernandez led off with a double and later scored on Turner Olson's RBI-single down the right-field line.
 
Lizarraga finished with a pair of hits to pace Chico State's offense. Navarro and Olson also reached base twice, both via a hit and a walk.
 
After bolting to a 3-0 lead on DeVito's three-run homer in the first inning of the nightcap, the Wildcats eventually came from behind to win.
 
Cal State San Bernardino plated three in the second to tie the game, and after Hernandez doubled ahead of Dustin Miller's RBI-single in the third made it 4-3, the Coyotes scored two more in the bottom-half of the inning to take a 5-4 lead.
 
DeVito tied the game in the fifth with a mammoth home run over the trees beyond the center-field fence.
 
Chico State took the lead for good in the sixth. Tyler Grissom singled leading off the inning, moved to second on a wild pitch and third on Navarro's sacrifice, before scoring the winning run on Hernandez's line single to left.
 
Alex Kent, who took over for starter Connor Sealey to start the fifth, threw three scoreless frames to collect the win, improving to 2-3.
 

After working around a two-out single in the fifth, Kent struck out a pair with a runner in scoring position to wriggle off the hook in the sixth. He did his best escape work in the seventh. The Coyotes had runners at first and second with nobody out after a leadoff single and error. But Kent got consecutive foul pop-outs to first and then struck out the red-hot Richard Castro (3-for-3 with four RBI in his first three at-bats of the game) to end it.
 
Grissom finished 3-for-3 with a double, raising his average more than 100 points. Hernandez, DeVito, and Miller had two hits apiece. Hernandez has now hit safely in 12 straight games, while DeVito and Navarro extended their hitting streaks to nine.
 
Chico State leapfrogged six teams to rise from 12^th to sixth in the CCAA standings with three wins Monday at Cal State East Bay. By winning the first three games of this series, the Wildcats have risen two more spots into fourth. Only first-place San Francisco State (10-0 in the CCAA) and second-place UC San Diego (10-4) have fewer losses than the Wildcats. They could jump into a tie for third Sunday with a win if Cal State East Bay can knock off Cal State Monterey Bay.
 
Following Sunday's series finale, the Wildcats will return home to prepare for a four-game home series against Cal State LA, which will begin with a single game Friday at 6 p.m. at Nettleton Stadium.