The Chico State baseball team lost only twice in its first 19 games of the season at Nettleton Stadium. Saturday, the Wildcats lost twice more. Cal State Dominguez Hills swept a doubleheader 9-5 and 7-6 to knock the Wildcats out of first place for the first time since opening day of California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) play.
 
The visiting Toros improved to 21-12 overall and 16-7 in the CCAA, while 10^th-ranked Chico State slipped to 26-9 overall and 19-7 in the CCAA. Cal State Monterey Bay moved to 20-6 in conference play with its come-from-behind win in the first game of a doubleheader against Cal State LA Saturday, taking over the lead in the conference standings in the process.
 
The Wildcats lost leads in both games Saturday as they played in sustained winds of 15 to 30 miles per hour with gusts from 40 to 50. They led 4-2 in the opener before the Toros tagged them for five runs in the sixth. Willie Lajoie doubled twice, Jeffrey Ray drove in two runs, and Andrew Crane cranked out a trio of hits in the defeat.
 
They grabbed a 5-3 lead on Ray's three-run homer in the fourth inning of game two, but the Toros rallied with four runs in the seventh of the seven-inning affair, holding on to win.
 
Jacob Jablonski had three hits in the nightcap. Grady Morgan hit safely in each game to stretch his hitting streak to 16 games. It's tied for the ninth longest hitting streak in the Dave Taylor era (from 2007 on) and the longest since Sonny Cortez collected hits in 16 games in a row in 2016.
 
That same wind wreaked havoc on the Chico State defense in a 9-5 loss in game one. Two pop flies fell in for hits in front of outfielders playing extra deep and behind infielders as balls blew deeper into the outfielder than expected. Lajoie also doubled in the nightcap and has reached base safely in 18 games in a row. Ray has reached safely in 15 in a row, Jackson 14 straight, and Zach Morris 12 in a row.
 
The series concludes with a single game Sunday at 11 a.m.