GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – It took an extra inning and a strong relief effort from Jeremy Keller, but the Chico State baseball team scored three runs in the 10^th and hanged on to beat Colorado Mesa 12-9 to salvage a win in the non-conference finale Sunday afternoon.
 
Chico State snaps out of a four-game losing skid and improve to 21-15 overall.
 
Keller, who saw action in the batter's box in the first three games of the series, took the mound this time and tossed six innings, giving up three runs on as many hits and a walk while striking out five on 72 pitches. It is, by far, the most innings Keller has thrown on the season. The furthest he reached before today was 2.2 innings at Cal State LA.
 
Although the Mavericks' Rob Sharrar hit his fourth home run of the series in the eighth inning to tie the game at nine. Following a fielding error thereafter, Keller would eventually go on to keep Colorado Mesa (26-12) off the base paths the rest of the game.
 
The 10^th inning began with Daniel Vierra, who came in as a defensive substitution in the sixth, hit the go-ahead home run to left field. Troy Kent reached first on a fielding error by the shortstop and stole second to put himself into scoring position. Carson Stevens was given first base intentionally and Andrew Crane won a walk to load the bases. Michael Baker hit a sacrifice fly to center that saw Kent make just in time before the tag was made and Kaden Bass singled through the left side to score in Stevens and give Chico State a 12-9 lead.
 
Chico State had to recover from a three-error fourth inning that allowed Colorado Mesa to score three unearned runs and take a 6-2 lead. In the fifth inning, Patrick Barnum got the rally started with a one-out single and he would score on three straight walks taken by Alexander Johnson, Phoenix Casias and Kent. Stefan Foley knocked in two with a single up the middle and while Stevens drew a walk, a wild pitch was thrown on ball four that allowed Kent to score all the way from second to tie the game.
 
The Wildcats added two more runs in the sixth inning. With the bases loaded and one out, Foley hit a sacrifice fly to bring in Johnson from third and Andrew Crane came up with a two-out RBI single to right that brought in Casias to give Chico State a 9-7 lead.
 
Both teams had combined for 22 hits, but Colorado Mesa's pitching walked 13 batters in the game. Six of those walks turned into runs for the Wildcats and of those 13 free passes, four of them were drawn from Stevens.
 
With the non-conference schedule complete, the Wildcats will play the remaining 12 games against CCAA opponents starting with first-place Cal State Monterey Bay at Nettleton Stadium next weekend. The four-game series begins Friday at 6 p.m.
 
The Otters are coming off having taken 3-of-4 from Cal State San Bernardino in a rematch of last year's NCAA West Regional final in Seaside.
 
Chico State resumes conference play with a .556 winning percentage and holds on to fifth place in the standings.