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The Orion

Chico State's independent student newspaper

The Orion

Chico State's independent student newspaper

The Orion

Chico sweeps Western Oregon

Published 2005-02-28T00:00:00Z”/>

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Jeff Larson<br>Staff Writer

Despite intermittent showers and a zooming train, the Chico State baseball team still managed to beat up on the Western Oregon University Wolves, winning 10-3 on Sunday to improve its record to 8-4-1.

The Wildcats are coming off a road trip to Cal Poly Pomona in which they lost two out of three games. This series though, they came back with a nice three-game sweep.

?It is a tremendous advantage to be at home with the familiarity of the field and not having to be in a hotel all weekend,? said head coach Lindsay Meggs. ?Last weekend at Pomona, it was us coupled up in a hotel all weekend dealing with the rain, so it?s nice to be home.?

On Sunday, the ?Cats struck first and never relinquished the lead. Freshman designated hitter Ryan Simpson had a huge game with two run scoring singles. He scored twice also.

?I love how Ryan isn?t afraid to take his hacks, and with him being so young he?s only going to get better,? Meggs said.

Junior outfielder Zack Height and Senior second basemen Jeff Walker also came up big for the ?Cats. Height had two run scoring singles and scored once. He was also consistent defensively with five put outs.

Walker also had a multi-hit game for Chico State, along with scoring four runs.

Junior shortstop Chad Nelson also drove in two runs.

The ?Cats aren?t just an offensive power. In the top of the fourth inning, Senior first basemen Joseph Ramos made a diving catch off a hard ground ball hit in the hole between second and first, most likely saving a run.

Junior Ben Buker started on the mound for Chico State. He pitched five solid innings, allowing two hits and striking out four. He received the win, improving his record to 1-1.

?Ben was great for us today, even though he wasn?t feeling too good,? Meggs said. ?He gave us five great innings, but at the top of the sixth, I pulled him for Senior Robert Anaya for fear of injury.? Terry Baumgartner, Western Oregon head coach, had nothing but praise for Chico?s baseball program.

?Chico is a very good club that will definitely be in the regional at the end of the season,? Baumgartner said. ?We only beat them in one inning and that was the eighth. If we would have had other productive innings, the outcome might have been different.?

Jeff Larson can be reached at

<a href= “mailto:[email protected]”>[email protected]</a>

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