CHICO – Playing the first of two baseball doubleheaders in the regular-season finale Thursday, Chico State was swept by its rivals Sonoma State, putting another halt on the Wildcats from clinching a spot to the upcoming CCAA Championships.
Sonoma struck early in game one and held on to beat the Wildcats 15-10 while in game two the Wildcats were only down by one run until a two-out error in the seventh inning allowed four unearned runs to score that would eventually setup a 10-3 runaway win for the Seawolves in the nightcap.
By dropping to 18-19 in the CCAA and dipping the win percentage down to .486, the Wildcats still hold on to fifth place in the conference standings but now lead the Seawolves by a half of a game. Sonoma is now 18-20 with a .474 win percentage. Chico State did get help down in Southern California as San Francisco State beat Cal State Dominguez Hills and last-place Stanislaus State walloped Cal State LA, keeping Wildcats' magic number to clinching a spot to the conference tournament down to one with two games to play.
Chico State and Sonoma State will wrap up the regular-season with a 9/7-inning doubleheader beginning at noon. Prior to first pitch, the Wildcats will honor seniors Andrew Crane, Dylan Day, Kevin Lyons, Nathan and Nolan Meredith. The ceremony will begin at 11:35 a.m.
On a warm afternoon at Nettleton Stadium with winds blowing out to left field, the ballpark turned to be friendly for the hitters as both teams combined for 61 hits on the day. Sonoma had 37 of those hits, seven of those were doubles and two were home runs. Chico, meanwhile, had 24 hits with seven of them for two-baggers.
It was a rough day for the Wildcat pitchers as seven pitchers were tagged with 25 runs allowed, 20 of which were earned. Senior Kevin Lyons, did however, pitch brilliantly in his final game at Nettleton Stadium, throwing six innings in the nightcap with eight strikeouts and only allowed three runs while keeping the Seawolves' lead down to less than three in his outing.
Stefan Foley went 4-for-7 in the two games, Troy Kent went 3-for-5 in game one with a pair of doubles but was silenced in game two.
