President Paul Zingg threw his last first pitch for a Chico State baseball game on Sunday, April 10 at Nettleton Stadium. This started the Wildcats’ rubber match of the home series against Cal State Dominguez Hills.

This baseball game was one of several events Zingg has participated in to mark the beginning of his retirement as president of Chico State.

Throughout his career, Zingg has always expressed an interest in athletics. He acted as a sports history consultant to several presses, museum curators, the media and in 1994 on Ken Burns’ renowned television documentary series, “Baseball.”

This sentimental event gave the Wildcat crowd the opportunity to celebrate Zingg’s 12 successful years as a Chico State athletics supporter.

Unfortunately for the baseball team, this pitch did not prompt a successful game. The Wildcats took the Cal State Dominguez Hills Toros to 10 innings, but fell short 6-7.

Going into this game, Chico State was split 1-1 with the Toros. Losing the series 2-1 leaves the ‘Cats with a conference record of 14-9 and an overall record of 24-11.

The entire game was a battle for the lead. With almost every inning, each team would pull ahead of the other.

In the sixth inning, the Wildcats were up 4-3 until the Toros scored three additional runs and took the lead right back. Two scoreless innings held the Wildcats down 4-6.

Faith was restored in the bottom of the ninth inning when senior catcher Cody Bistline and junior infielder Jimbo Pernetti scored back-to-back, tying the score at 6-6.

At the top of the 10th inning, Cal State Dominguez Hills scored once more, giving the Wildcats one last opportunity to score. The Toros held Chico State scoreless, resulting in a 7-6 loss.

The Wildcat baseball team flies to Pomona, California, on April 16 to face the Cal Poly Pomona Mustangs for a three-game series.

Anna Baytosh can be reached at [email protected] or @anna_baytosh on Twitter.