SEASIDE—On a damp and cold day on the coast, the Chico State baseball team played as if it were in a fog for the majority of Saturday's doubleheader at Cal State Monterey Bay, dropping the opening game 13-3 and trailing 3-0 for much of the second. But Willie Lajoie gave them the jolt they needed, a game-tying two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh, as the Wildcats rallied to win the nightcap 4-3.
 
After scoring a run in the sixth, the Wildcats entered their final at-bat of the day trailing 3-1. Turner Olson drew a one-out walk ahead of Lajoie, who slammed a ball through the cold, damp air and over the left-field wall to tie the game.
 
Eddie Zavala followed with a single, moved to second on Griffin Hennessey's sacrifice bunt, and scored the winning run on an error when the second baseman couldn't handle Aidan Rasmusson's ground ball.
 
Kristian Scott pitched a 1-2-3 seventh to seal the victory.
 
The Wildcats, winners of nine of their last 11 games, improved to 9-4 overall and 5-4 in the CCAA. Cal State Monterey Bay is now 5-8 overall and 2-5 in the CCAA.
 
The series concludes with a single game Sunday at 11 a.m.
 
Lajoie and Rasmusson had two hits apiece for the Wildcats. Alex Kent collected the win in relief of starter Christian Stiegele. Kent struck out three and allowed one hit in one-and-a-third innings. Scott's save was his third of the season in three tries.
 
The host Otters pounced on the Wildcats in the first game of the day, plating five runs in the first. Chico State chipped away at the lead, cutting it to 5-3 with two runs in the fourth and another in the fifth. But Cal State Monterey Bay answered with single runs in the fifth, sixth, and seventh, and then put the game away with a five-run eighth.
 
Connor Sealey pitched well for the Wildcats in relief and kept them in it for a time, allowing only a single run on three hits in four innings of work.
 
Olson went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and two runs scored. Lajoie went 2-for-4 with a run and RBI.