The Chico State baseball team can now breathe normal. The losing skid is over.
 
Having lost 12 straight California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) games, the Wildcats invited little leaguers to Nettleton Stadium on a perfect Sunday afternoon and perhaps their presence was the medicine needed to stop the bleeding as Chico State slugged its way to an 8-3 win over No. 23 Cal State San Bernardino to end the skid.
 
Being back on the win column, the Wildcats improve to 16-21 overall and 10-17 in the CCAA. The Wildcats will have to wait on other results in the CCAA to see what the win will do to them in the standings with eight games remaining. Chico State entered the day in 10^th.
 
On a hot day that was at 72 degrees at first pitch, the temperature increased and so did the bats as both teams combined for 22 hits with seven of them for extra bases. Elijah Jackson had a four hit day and needed a home run to complete a cycle.
 
The offense came alive going up against Austyn Coleman, who was 7-0 at the start of the day and thanks to the 'Cats slugfest, they handed the right-hander his first loss.
 
Dylan Day had a solid five-inning day on the mound, giving up one run in the third inning while giving up five hits and a walk along with three strikeouts.
 
That one run in the third was surrendered by a leadoff double followed by an RBI single.
 
Chico State did respond to that run in its half of the third. Jeffrey Ray led off with a double down the left field line, took third on a ground out and scored the tying run on a wild pitch. Jackson got his second hit and moved into scoring position when Jacob Jablonski drew a walk. Andrew Crane brought in two runs with a two-out single through the left side to give Chico State a 3-1 lead.
 
The big breakthrough came in the fifth inning. Jackson came a few feet away from a leadoff home run but settled with a triple. Jablonski drew another walk to put runners at the corners. Cameron Mahaffy knocked in Jackson with a base hit to right field. Although pinch-hitter Kyle Dobson laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners, it turned out to be not necessary as Crane followed with a three-run home run to left center, giving Chico State a 7-1 lead.
 
Both sides would score a run in the sixth inning. For Chico State, Logan Drummond and Jackson hit back-to-back doubles to score in the run and give the Wildcats an 8-2 lead.
 
After Eric Hill helped out Tyce Ochs by limiting one unearned run across in the middle innings, Josh Verdon came in looking to erase an awful memory of a five-run seventh inning that enabled the Yotes to rally and take Saturday's nightcap of the doubleheader. Although not a save situation, Verdon got two innings allowing a meaningless run across in the ninth.
 
Chico State will hit the road one last time in the regular season, visiting Cal State Dominguez Hills. The series begins Friday at 3 p.m.