CHICO, Calif. – The Chico State baseball team scored three runs in the seventh and eighth innings that ended up becoming the difference in a 10-8 win over Cal State San Bernardino at Nettleton Stadium Sunday afternoon, giving the Wildcats the CCAA series win.
The win moves Chico State to 21-12 overall and 14-10 in the CCAA, putting the Wildcats in a three-way tie for third place in the standings alongside Cal State Monterey Bay and San Francisco State. The Gators were on a bye weekend while the Otters salvaged a split against second-place Cal State Dominguez Hills in Seaside.
The three teams are three games behind first-place Cal State LA with 16 games left on the regular-season schedule.
Cal State San Bernardino, meanwhile, heads into its bye weekend 23-15 overall while taking fifth place with a 15-13 record in conference play.
Once again, the series saw another slugfest in the finale. Chico State had 15 hits on the day including three from Phoenix Casias. The left fielder also had a three-RBI day, driving one in the second inning and two in the fourth inning that moved the Wildcats ahead 5-4. Additionally, Ernie Arambula had a three-hit afternoon along with two RBI singles in back-to-back at-bats. The first was in the fifth inning that scored in Michael Baker to break the 6-6 tie and in the seventh he knocked in pinch-runner Lorenzo Mariani to give Chico State an 8-6 lead.
Pinch-hitter Brady Wright became the difference maker in the seventh inning, when he won an eight-pitch battle to drive in Baker to put the Wildcats ahead 9-7.
The eighth inning also had significant importance for Chico State in the game. The Coyotes had one run plated and threatened to do more damage with the bases loaded and one out. Sean Head was able to induce a ground ball to Arambula at shortstop to turn an inning-ending double play. In the home half of the eighth, Kent led off with a single, Daniel Vierra laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt and pinch-hitter Jesse Gadd stepped up and on one pitch he singled to right to bring in Kent, giving Chico State a 10-7 lead.
Aaron McCurley took the mound and had to face the top of the Coyotes order. He only surrendered a double and an RBI single to clinch his third save of the year.
Starter Marco Ibarra picked up the win after a five-inning outing against one of the top offensive teams in the West Region. The right hander got four strikeouts while not issuing a walk. Drake Richardson came back out for the second time in the series and pitched two shutout innings with four strikeouts.
Chico State goes back on the road to take on Cal State Dominguez Hills. The series begins Friday at 3 p.m.
