POMONA—Jack Murphy mashed a leadoff home run down the right field line and tripled to fuel a two-run rally in the third. But the Chico State baseball team could not tack on more runs. Cal Poly Pomona made them pay with a five-run eighth-inning rally in a 5-3 loss at Scolinos Field Saturday afternoon.
 
Chico State slipped to 11-4 overall and 4-2 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association as its road woes continued with Saturday's loss. The Wildcats are 10-0 at home, but have now dropped four of five on the road. The series will conclude with a single game Sunday at 11 a.m. Saturday's scheduled second game was cancelled due to a number of delays in getting the first game started. Cal Poly Pomona—picked to win the CCAA title in the conference's preseason coaches poll—improved to 8-7 overall and 3-3 in the CCAA.
 
The Broncos have pitched like a CCAA Championship contender in the first two games of the series. Murphy's two hits were the only ones of the day for the Wildcats Saturday. They mustered only three hits in Friday's series-opening loss. 
 
The Wildcats' Rylan Tinsley started and shutout the Broncos through four-and-a-third frames. He allowed eight hits, but consistently worked his way out of trouble, including a bases-loaded, no-out situation in the fourth. He got back-to-back grounders and then a strikeout.
 
In the fifth, reliever Tyler Chivens came on with one out and runners on second and third and struck out two Broncos and sustain the three-run lead. Chivens worked two-and-two-thirds scoreless frames. 
 
The Wildcats got into a jam they couldn't escape in the eighth. After a single and walk, a two-run triple trimmed the lead to 3-2. A sacrifice fly knotted the game at three, and with two out, a two-run homer made it a 5-3 Broncos lead.