For a team that was originally going to take a week off from competition, Chico State baseball chalked up several impressive accomplishments in its impromptu three-game series with Colorado Mesa. Thanks to a split of Monday's doubleheader at Nettleton Stadium—Chico State taking the opener 7-4 before dropping a 4-1 decision in the nightcap—the Wildcats took a series from one of the top Division II programs in the country, while at the same time building up some positive momentum heading into this weekend's California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) conference schedule.
Chico State is now 5-4 on the season following Monday's doubleheader split, while Colorado Mesa leaves town with an overall record of 4-2.
The Wildcats rapped out a combined 17 hits over the two Monday contests. Xabi Iparraguirre and Kaden Bass led the way with three hits apiece, while Jacob Jablonski, Andrew Crane, and Logan Drummond each registered two hits on the afternoon.
In the first game of the twin bill, Colorado Mesa used a homer by Max Valdez leading off the second inning to grab an early lead. Chico State immediately knotted things up in its half of the inning, as Dom Meza knocked in Jablonski with a double down the left field line.
The Mavericks jumped back in front, scoring twice in the third inning and once in the fourth against Wildcats starting pitcher Dylan Day. The Chico State relief corps of Tyce Ochs, Kevin Lyons, Justin Tamelier, and Josh Verdon proceeded to shut Colorado Mesa down, combining for five shutout innings the rest of the way.
The 'Cats cut the deficit to 4-2 in the bottom of the fourth inning when Jablonski scored from third on a double play grounder. In the fifth, Chico State took control of the contest by putting up a four-spot: Jablonski singled home a pair to tie the game; Carter Mahaffy came home on a passed ball, and Jablonski scored later in the frame on a wild pitch to put the Wildcats up 6-4. The 'Cats added an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh when Bass chased home Iparraguirre with an RBI single to left, and Lyons, Tamelier and Verdon combined to toss a scoreless eighth and ninth inning to lock down Chico State's 7-4 victory.
Ochs got credit for the win—his first as a Chico State Wildcat. Verdon earned his second save of the season.
The nightcap featured a dandy pitcher's duel between starters Cole Seward of Colorado Mesa and the Wildcats' Cody Gentry. The two hurlers traded zeroes through the first four frames before the Mavericks broke through with a pair of fifth inning runs. The Wildcats cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the fifth, when Alden Quintanilla's pinch-hit single plated Jarret Lindsay.
It would prove to be the 'Cats' lone run of the game. The Mavericks scored twice in the top of the sixth inning, then turned things over to closer Anthony Durbano, who blanked Chico State in the sixth and seventh innings to give Colorado Mesa the 4-1 win.
The Wildcats are back in action this weekend, traveling to Southern California to open up CCAA play against Cal State San Marcos. The four-game series begins with a single game Friday at 2 p.m., followed by a Saturday doubleheader at 11 a.m. and a single game Sunday at 11 a.m.
