CHICO -- Cal State LA's baseball team prevailed in a wild one Thursday night in the opener of a key California Collegiate Athletic Association series at Chico State.

The Golden Eagles saw the Wildcats extend the game twice before scoring five times in the top of the 11th inning to finally prevail, 14-9, at Nettleton Stadium. Cal State LA (21-18, 18-11 CCAA) snapped a four-game losing streak and pulled into a third-place tie with Cal State Monterey Bay, one game back of San Francisco State and two games back of first-place Cal State Dominguez Hills.

The Golden Eagles scored three times in the eighth inning to take a 6-4 lead, only to see Chico State (23-15, 16-13 CCAA) scored twice in the ninth to tie it. Then, after Malik Clayton gave the Golden Eagles a 9-6 lead in the 10th inning, the Wildcats responded with three runs in the bottom of the inning to tie it again.

Finally, the Golden Eagles got two-run doubles from Isaiah Marquez and Alberto Prado to highlight a five-run outburst in the 11th inning that proved to be the difference. Anthony Diaz retired the Wildcats in the bottom of the inning to improve to 4-0 on the season.

Cal State LA had 16 hits in the game and came alive at the plate, scoring 11 of its 14 runs in the final four innings.

Marquez was 3-for-6 with four runs batted in from the leadoff spot, while Malik Clayton was 3-for-6 with four RBI and Kadyn Victorian was 3-for-6 with four runs scored and one RBI. Alberto Prado was 2-for-5 with three RBI.

Isaac Quintero got the start for the Golden Eagles and allowed only one earned run over three strong innings. Jace Paderez came on for the next 1 1/3 innings and Moises Escobedo did an outstanding job, allowing only two hits over the next four innings before coming out with two on and one out in the ninth.

The Golden Eagles trailed 4-2 after six innings, but pulled to within 4-3 after a run-scoring triple by Prado. The Golden Eagles then took the lead with three runs in the eighth on a run-scoring single by Victorian and a two-run double by Marquez.

After Escobedo left with a 6-4 lead and two on and one out in the ninth, Diaz got the second out before getting a shallow fly ball on an 0-2 pitch to Jeremy Keller that fell in to score both runners and send the game into extra innings.

Undeterred, the Golden Eagles regained the lead with a bases-clearing double by Clayton that gave them a 9-6 lead in the 10th inning. Chico State took advantage of an infield error and, for the second straight inning, was down to its final strike before a two-run single by Phoenix Casias tied it again.

Cal State LA bounced right back in the 11th, getting a two-run double by Marquez to regain the lead, a two-run double from Prado and a run-scoring single from Clayton to grab a 14-9 lead.

Diaz got two of the final three outs via strikeout to end it. He allowed four hits and one walk while striking out four in his 2 2/3 innings of work. None of the three runs he allowed were earned.

Cal State LA will continue the series at Chico State with a doubleheader on Friday beginning at 1 p.m.



  



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