CHICO – In what started out as a pitching duel in Sunday's CCAA series finale, the Chico State baseball team became victims of the long ball in the seventh inning as Cal State San Marcos slugged its way to an 11-7 result to split the four-game matchup at Nettleton Stadium.
While the hit totals were 12-10 in favor of the Cougars (13-8, 12-4 CCAA), the visiting team also capitalized on pitching mistakes as seven batters were hit on the pitch in the game. Four batters were hit in the seventh inning that turned out to be costly as all those runs were scored by the three home runs in that inning, giving the Cougars a 10-4 lead.
Troy Kent had three of those 10 hits for the Wildcats (13-8, 8-8 CCAA), running his hitting streak to an impressive 19 games. He is now chasing Daniel Code's 2007 record of 22 games with a hit.
Chico State struck first in the scoring columns. Alexander Johnson and Kent hit back-to-back singles to put runners at the corners with one out. Kent stole second and at the same time a wild pitch allowed Johnson to score the game's first run. In the next inning, Lucas Mariani won a one-out walk, took second on a groundout and scored on Johnson's RBI single to right.
The Cougars would rally in the fifth to tie the game at 2-2. The Wildcats did respond in the sixth inning on a two-out rally that started with Andrew Crane singling to right and Carson Stevens earning a walk. Stefan Foley came in as a pinch hitter and the decision turned out to be clutch as he hit a two-run double down the left field line, putting Chico State back up front 4-2.
After the seventh-inning damage, the Cougars added one more in the ninth to take an 11-4 lead.
The Wildcats did go down quietly in the ninth inning. Going up against Cougar reliever Nolan Kelly, who came into the game in the sixth inning, Chico State got a rally started with Elijah Pascual getting hit by the pitch. He took second on a wild pitch, reached third on Patrick Barnum's single to center and scored on a double play. The inning did continue when Travis Miller and Kent hit back-to-back singles to the outfield and they both scored on Jeremy Keller's double down the left field line to cut the deficit to three. Kelly got a groundout to end the game and pick up his third win of the season.
Chico State makes hits the road to Southern California to visit Cal State LA for a four-game series against the Golden Eagles. Game one first pitch is at 6 p.m. The Golden Eagles are coming off having lost 3-of-4 on the road to the defending West Region champions Cal State San Bernardino this weekend, dropping their overall record to 12-10 and 6-6 in the CCAA.
