Box Score
LOS ANGELES – Cal State L.A.'s baseball team came up short against No. 23 Chico State Sunday afternoon in a day full of offense at Reeder Field.
Chico State turned 17 hits, nine walks and one hit batter into 14 runs and went on to defeat the Golden Eagles, 14-8, in the finale of a four-game California Collegiate Athletic Association series at Reeder Field. Cal State L.A. (16-21, 14-14 CCAA) lost three of the four games in the series to Chico State (26-12, 21-11).
It was a rough afternoon for pitchers, except for Chico State reliever Ian Waldron. He entered the game in the fourth inning and limited Cal State L.A. to just one run over the final five innings. The Golden Eagles had led 6-3 after three innings and 7-5 after four innings, but Chico State scored nine runs over the final five innings to take the game and the series.
Chris Matzner had two hits and three RBI for the Golden Eagles, while
Jordan Castro was 3-for-5 with two runs scored and
Joe Park was 2-for-3 with two RBI.
Matt Miraldi also had two hits for the Golden Eagles, who finished the game with 11 hits in all.
Jackson Evans had four hits and three RBI to lead Chico State. Adam Arakawa, Michael Murphy and Kevin Seaver had three hits each for the Wildcats, who scored in seven of the nine innings on Sunday.
The Wildcats struck for two runs in the first inning with the aid of a Cal State L.A. error. Johnny Hay had a sacrifice fly and Evans singled in a run to stake the Wildcats to an early lead.
Cal State L.A. came back with three runs in the second to take the lead. Park drove in one run with a sacrifice fly and Matzner had a two-run single to give the Golden Eagles a 3-2 advantage.
Chico State tied it at 3-3 in the top of the third when Evans doubled, took third on a wild pitch and scored on another wild pitch, but Cal State L.A. regained the lead with three runs in the bottom of the inning. Castro drove in one run with a double,
Max Moya had a sacrifice fly and Park had a run-scoring single.
After Chico State scored twice in the top of the fourth to make it 6-5, the Golden Eagles got another run on a sacrifice fly by Quick.
Chico State then got two runs in the fifth and one in the sixth to take the lead for good. A fielder's choice off the bat of Hunter Buckmore drove in one of the fifth-inning runs and a bases-loaded walk to Jordan Larson tied it at 7-7. Chico State then got the go-ahead run in the sixth on a bases-loaded walk to Tony Hernandez.
Chico State added two more in the seventh on run-scoring singles by Seaver and Evans to take a 10-7 lead and Cal State L.A. cut it to 10-8 in the bottom of the eighth on a run-scoring single by Matzner.
The Wildcats then put the game out of reach with a four-run ninth inning. Arakawa drove in a run with a groundout, Evans singled in a run, Hernandez doubled in a run and Ben Manlove singled in a run.
The Golden Eagles will return to action on Thursday with the opener of a four-game series at UC San Diego.
