HAYWARD—Austin McFarlane put together Chico State's best pitching performance of the season, and the best of his career, to seal the Wildcats' doubleheader sweep at Cal State East Bay Friday. The senior's gem in Chico State's 2-0 win came on the heels of Jeffrey Ray's game-winning, two-run single in the 10
th inning of the first game, a 7-5 Wildcats victory.
McFarlane fired the sixth one-hit shutout in Chico State history in the nightcap. He retired the first 10 batters he faced, and after walking three in a row, got out of the jam by retiring the next five. After allowing his only hit of the day, a line single to center on the first pitch of the sixth, McFarlane got the next six Pioneers in a row for his second complete game in his last five starts, and the first shutout of his career.
Elijah Jackson broke a scoreless deadlock with an RBI-bouncer up the middle in the fifth and later scored on Ray's RBI-double for the game's only other score.
Ray was the hero of the first game, throwing out the potential go-ahead run at the plate to end the seventh and then drilling the go-ahead two-run double with two down in the 10
th.
The Wildcats, now 33-14 overall and 26-12 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association, entered this four-game series tied for second in the CCAA standings and ranked No. 4 in the West Region. They will go for the sweep in the regular-season finale for both teams Saturday at 11 a.m. Chico State locked up no worse than the No. 3 seed in next week's CCAA Tournament with its first win Friday, but needs a win Saturday, coupled with a Cal Poly Pomona loss against Cal State Dominguez Hills, to capture the No. 2 seed. Cal State East Bay (24-25, 17-22 CCAA) was eliminated from the CCAA Tournament chase Friday.
McFarlane joins a short list of Chico State pitchers who have hurled a complete-game, one-hitter. Grant Larson is the only one to do it in a nine-inning game. Craig Edwards, Brian Kroll, Andrew Pluta, and Casey Costello all accomplished the feat in seven frames. McFarlane struck out five in his final regular-season start, improving to 3-3 with the win, while lowered his ERA in his last six starts to 2.76.
Jack Murphy hit a two-run homer on the sixth pitch of the opener and Jacob Jablonksi drove in a run with a two-out triple later in the frame. Jablonski tacked on a two-run double in the fifth, giving the Wildcats a 5-3 lead.
But Cal State East Bay pushed across a run in the bottom half of the inning and another in the sixth to tie the game.
Ray nearly drove in the go-ahead run in the eighth, but his fly ball was not quite deep enough, and Jackson was thrown out at the plate to end the inning. In the bottom half of the seventh, Ray made a dive to knock down a hard hit ball up the middle, and when the baserunner who started on second headed for home, the Wildcats' second baseman threw him out at the plate.
The game remained tied until the 10
th. Zach Morris singled with one out and Jarret Lindsay kept the inning going with a two-out hit. Ray took the first pitch he saw for a ball and then blasted a double to left that scored pinch runner Ernie Arambula, and Lindsay.
Kevin Lyons (5-1) picked up the win with four strong innings of relief. He allowed just two hits and walked one while striking out three. Eric Hill entered with two on and nobody out in the bottom of the 10
th to register his fourth, and perhaps his most impressive, save of the season.
