The Chico State baseball team has 12 games to go in its quest to win the 2022 California Collegiate Athletic Association title. Four of those will take place this week at Cal State San Bernardino, which has title aspirations of its own.
Second-place Chico State is ranked No. 16 in the nation at 27-9 overall and 20-7 in the CCAA. Fourth-place Cal State San Bernardino is 19-15 overall and 15-9 in the CCAA. They are both in hot pursuit of current conference leader Cal State Monterey Bay (22-6 in the CCAA). The Otters are at third-place Cal State Dominguez Hills (16-8 CCAA).
The series starts Thursday at 3 p.m., continues with a doubleheader Friday at noon, and concludes with a single game Saturday at 11 a.m. All four games will be broadcast locally and online on AM-1290 and FM 102.9 KPAY Sports. They will also be streamed on the CCAA Network. Links are available on the homepage and baseball schedule page at
www.chicowildcats.com.
As Chico State hits the stretch run—after this week, the Wildcats will host Cal State Monterey Bay for a four-game series April 29 through May 1 before wrapping up the regular season with a four-game set at Cal State East Bay May 5 through 7—it hopes to build off its recent road success. They've won eight of their last nine away from The Nett.
Cal State San Bernardino has been good at home. The Coyotes have won 14 of 20 at Fiscalini Field, an historically offense-forward facility. Ten of the 20 games there thus far have seen at least one team reach double digits in scoring.
Chico State, meanwhile, has scored 10+ runs in 20 of 36 games thus far during a historic offensive season. The Wildcats rank among the NCAA Division II top 10 in batting average (.342), on-base percentage (.446), scoring (9.9 runs per game), sacrifice bunts (36), and sacrifice flies (28).
The Wildcats defense is also tied for the national lead with 39 double plays. However, Head Coach Dave Taylor is looking for some more defensive consistency. The Wildcats rank only seventh in the CCAA with a .965 fielding percentage. He's also hoping to see his pitching staff start getting into postseason form. The Wildcats rank second in the CCAA in team ERA at 4.79.
