The Chico State baseball team started their season with back-to-back wins Friday as they cruised past Fresno Pacific 9-5 in the first game and followed that with a 6-2 victory.
In game one, starting pitcher Casey Costello threw five strong innings, giving up one earned run and striking out five.
The Wildcats led 1-0 going into the 5th inning when they scored four runs highlighted by two-run single by shortstop Casey Henderson with bases loaded to give him one of his three hits on the day.
In the 7th inning the Wildcats added four more. Trevor Steinman started the rally with RBI single up the middle, before second baseman Brian Pozos broke the game open with a two-run triple. This put the Wildcats up 9-4, and they never looked back.
In the second game of the day, despite allowing two runs, both on homeruns, starting pitcher Grant Larson struck out nine in three and two-thirds innings.
The Wildcats’ bats kept up with Pozos staying hot with two hits including an RBI. Outfielder Dustin Miller had three hits and an RBI in four at-bats for the ’Cats.
The star of the day however, was probably third-baseman Cameron Santos who recorded two hits in the first game and two hits and two RBIs in the second.
The Wildcats will look to continue their hot-start today as they finish up their three game series against Fresno Pacific at noon.
Austin Schreiber can be reached at [email protected] or @aschreiber94 on Twitter.