After winning the opener 21-11 in a game that featured the most runs scored in a game at Nettleton Stadium since 1998, the Chico State baseball team won a 2-1, extra-inning pitchers' duel in the nightcap on Willie Lajoie's walk-off RBI single through the left side in the bottom of the eighth against Fresno Pacific.
Pinch runner Skylar Limonchi scampered home under the lights, scoring easily, as the rest of the Wildcats rushed out to mob Lajoie and celebrate the team's fourth consecutive win and a three-game series sweep.
Nearly eight hours prior, Chico State put together its first of six multi-run rallies in the opener, scoring two runs in the first. They tacked on a five-spot in the second and five more in the third to build a 12-0 lead.
Fresno Pacific answered with four in the fifth, four in the sixth, and three more in the seventh to pull within striking distance at 16-11. But Chico State nailed down the victory with five more runs in the eighth.
Eddie Zavala went 5-for-6 with four RBI in the opener. Jorge Perez went 3-for-4 with a double, triple, and five RBI. Cody Wissler drove in four runs and Lajoie became the first Chico State player to score five times in a game since Ian McKay did it against San Francisco State on February 25, 2012.
JT Navarro, Turner Olson, Lajoie, and Wissler all had two hits apiece. One of Olson's was his first home run of the campaign.
The 21 runs are the most scored by a Chico State team since a 22-9 victory against rival Sonoma State in its California Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament opener on March 12, 2011.
Grant Larson earned the win, improving to 2-0. The lanky lefty posted four scoreless innings before surrendering four runs in the fifth (only one of which was earned). He allowed six hits, did not walk a batter, and struck out five. Kristian Scott got the final six outs, allowing only one hit and striking out three.
Thanks to starting pitchers Esteban Lizaola (Fresno Pacific) and Braeden Gowdy (Chico State), the second game took on a decidedly different feel from the outset.
Making his home Chico State debut, Gowdy did not allow a hit until the fourth or a run (on a solo home run) until the fifth. He struck out eight in six innings of work, surrendering only two hits and two walks in the no-decision.
Lizaola was equally impressive, allowing only a run on five hits in seven innings of work.
A two-out rally in the bottom of the sixth provided Chico State with its first run of the game and tied the score at 1-1. Wissler doubled down the left-field line ahead of Zavala, who singled through the left side to plate the tying run.
Reliever Daniel Foret worked a scoreless seventh for the Wildcats in his 2020 debut, and Austin McFarlane (1-0) pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the eighth, seeded by a two-out error, to collect his first win as a Wildcat.
Jorge Perez drew a leadoff walk against Sunbirds reliever Nic Boatman in the bottom of the eighth and moved to second on Tyler Grissom's sacrifice bunt. Aidan Rasmusson was intentionally walked to set the stage for Lajoie's joy-inducing game ender.
The Wildcats are now 4-2 on the season and 85-9 in regular-season, non-conference home games since Dave Taylor took over the team prior to the 2007 season.
They will open conference play next weekend with a four-game home series against San Francisco State. The series opens with a single game Friday at 2 p.m., continues with a doubleheader Saturday at noon, and concludes with a single game Sunday at 11 a.m.
