After a dominating game one victory against Cal State East Bay, the Wildcats dropped the following three games, falling to 24-20 on the year and fifth place in the CCAA standings. 

The Wildcats came out hot in game one, as senior infielder Carson Stevens homered over left field, scoring himself and junior outfielder Alexander Johnson. East Bay inched their way back into the game, scoring in the third inning, as well as the fifth. 

With the game tied 3-3 heading into the eighth inning, the Wildcats looked for an answer to take control of the game, and found one as Junior Steven Foley hit a three-run homer, scoring himself, junior outfielder Troy Kent and junior catcher Jeremy Keller. 

Still in the eighth, Chico would load the bases and capitalize, scoring another five runs thanks to Johnson and Kent. Junior infielder Casey Vogan ultimately put the game away in the ninth, hitting the third home run of the game for the Wildcats and bringing the final score to 12-3.

Games two and three would not be as favorable for the Wildcats. East Bay would hit a walkoff in game two despite a rally from the Wildcats in the top of the ninth to tie the game up. Game three was a seven-inning contest and would see the Pioneers taking charge in the fourth and fifth, scoring three runs in each inning. Kent went 4-8 on the day with three RBI’s.

“We just didn’t play very good baseball on Saturday, credit to their arm in the seven-inning game, he pitched well,” assistant coach Mark Taylor said. 

Game four would be rough for the Wildcats from the start of the first inning. Five runs were given up, including a grand slam. East Bay wouldn’t look back after the hot start, ultimately winning the game 7-4. 

Chico will need to win at least one of four in the series finale against Sonoma State to punch their ticket to the CCAA Championship. 

“These are big games if we want to continue playing, try to finish out the regular season playing well at home and hopefully give ourselves a chance to compete next weekend,” Taylor said.

The first pitch of the Sonoma State series will take place on Thursday at 6 p.m. at Nettleton Stadium. You can watch it here.

Nathan Paddock can be reached at [email protected].