Published 2005-04-27T00:00:00Z”/>

John Galvin<br>Staff Writer

For the first time in nearly a decade, the confines of Nettleton Stadium turned out to be anything but friendly for the Chico State baseball team, as the visiting Warriors from Cal State Stanislaus swept the Wildcats in a three-game series during the weekend.

Not since Sonoma State did it in the 1995 season has a visiting team swept the Wildcats on their home field in a three-game series. Chico State has had a record of 27–3 against Cal State Stanislaus during the past nine seasons at home, yet couldn’t come up with a win against the Warriors.

The Wildcats went into the weekend series ranked No. 5 in the nation and seemed as if they would roll on to another CCAA North division title. The Warriors from Cal State Stanislaus had other ideas.

After taking the opening game of the series 5–2 on Friday night, the Warriors went into the doubleheader Saturday knowing that they could compete with the Wildcats. Chico State had not allowed a team to score more than five runs in a game at home all season. On Saturday, the Warriors ended that streak as well, taking the opener 8–5, along with the nightcap 6–4.

The Wildcats took the lead in the opener early when outfielder Chad Williams scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of first baseman Ryan Martin in the first inning. After losing the lead in the top of the second, Jeff Mayberry’s two-run double, and Trevor Weedon’s RBI single in the bottom half of the inning put the ‘Cats back on top 4–3. The see-saw battle continued when the Warriors tied the game the very next inning and took the lead for good on an RBI single by Pete Hernandez in the fourth.

In game two of the double dip, Chico State held a 3–2 lead going into the sixth inning, and then the wheels fell off. The Warriors finally got to Wildcat starter Reid Horton, and rallied for four runs in the inning. Chico would add a run in the bottom of the ninth but the rally came up short and Stanislaus held on to win the nightcap 6–4.

The Warriors’ bullpen held Chico State to just two runs in nine innings of work, as both wins on Saturday were come-from-behind victories for the Warriors. Defense played a key role in the losses for the Wildcats. Over the course of the series, Chico committed six errors, leading to costly second chances for the Warriors, who capitalized with some clutch hitting with runners in scoring position.

One of the few high points for the Wildcats on Saturday was second baseman Jeff Walker, who became just the eighth player at Chico State to record 100 or more career RBIs on a seventh-inning single in game two of the doubleheader. Weedon also extended his hit streak to 10 games.

The Warriors now trail Cal State San Bernardino by a single game in the hunt for the fourth spot in the CCAA Championship Tournament. The Wildcats dropped to a record of 29–11–1 overall and 18–10 in the CCAA and are clinging to a one-game lead over Cal Poly Pomona and University of California, San Diego for the best record in the conference.

Stanislaus, 23–24 overall, and 17–14 in CCAA play, now finds itself just 2 1/2 games behind Chico State in the CCAA North division standings. The Wildcats end the season with a three-game set traveling to face the Warriors on May 6 and 7.

The Wildcats finish up a two-game series with Biola University today at 2 p.m.

John Galvin can be reached at

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