CARSON—Alex DeVito drilled his fourth home run of the season and Kristian Scott had a successful debut out of the bullpen, but the Chico State baseball team dropped its series opener at Cal State Dominguez Hills 10-2 Friday night at Toro Field.
 
DeVito homered over the wall in right-center field leading off the fourth inning, cutting Chico State's deficit to 4-2 before the Toros broke the game open with four runs in the bottom half of the frame and two more in the fifth.
 
The Wildcats fell to 17-14 overall and 13-13 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association while Cal State Dominguez Hills improved to 13-22 overall and 12-21 in the CCAA.
 
Wildcats ace Grant Larson had a rare bout of wildness, walking four and hitting a pair in four innings of work. He allowed eight runs on eight hits in four innings of work, falling to 4-3 on the season. Reliever Sid Lacy could not turn things around in the fifth, walking three and surrendering two more runs.
 
Relief finally came in the form of Scott, a corner infielder who made his season debut. Scott allowed only one hit in two walk-free innings of work and struck out one. Ellis Stevens followed suit in the eighth, working around a two-out double in a walk-free frame to retire the side.
 
With his home run, DeVito extended his hitting streak to 10 games and his reached-base streak to 27 in a row.
 
The series continues Saturday with a noon doubleheader and concludes with a single game Sunday morning at 11. All three of those games will be broadcast locally on KPAY AM-1290 and FM-102.9.