The Chico State baseball team split a doubleheader against Cal State Bernardino, winning the first game by a score of 13-4 and losing the second game 0-4.

The first game got off to a sloppy start for the Wildcats, who gave up three unearned runs on six errors.

However, they were able to make up for it with a huge seventh inning, in which they scored nine runs on eight hits, all with two outs.

After a quick two outs to start the inning, the Wildcat offense got started.

Center fielder Dustin Miller got up to bat twice in the seventh, and collected RBI singles in both trips to the plate. Miller’s first single gave the Wildcats a 5-4 lead before Brian Pozos broke the game open with a two RBI single of his own. This put the Wildcats up 7-4, and then they simply added from there.

Tyler Stofiel, Cameron Santos, and Louie Canjura also joined the RBI party late in the seventh, extending the Wildcat lead to 13-4. In the end, Chico would finish with an astonishing 17 hits in the game, however for the second game in a row, just one of these was for extra bases.

Right fielder Brian Pozos was a clear standout in game one, going 3-for-4 with three RBIs. Pozos has been swinging a hot bat as of late for Chico. He has collected at least two hits in five of his last six games. His recent move from second base to the outfield seems to be helping his offensive performance, as he now owns a .366 batting average on the season.

When asked about Pozos’ position change, assistant Coach Jose Garcia said, “For us right now, we just want guys that are going to put up competitive at bats. With the emergence of Louie (Canjura) swinging the bat well and Brian swinging it well also, we decided to move Brian to the outfield. He is super athletic so he’s been able to plug right into that position.”

The second game was started by pitcher Hilario Tovar, who looked sharp throughout all 6 2/3 innings he pitched. Tovar finished the game with eight strikeouts, but back to back hits and a pair of untimely errors in the seventh ended up giving him the loss.

Coach Garcia spoke about the defense when saying, “We need to get better at that. We talk about making routine plays and not trying to do too much. It all comes down to playing catch. We definitely have to get better on the defensive end if we want to accomplish our goals.”

In baseball, rarely do you commit eight errors in two games and come out on top in both. Defense finally became a factor in game two for the Wildcats, and they were not able to overcome it.

The Wildcat offense did not help, being limited to just three hits in the game, two coming from first baseman Kyle Blakeman.

The Wildcats (16-11, 12-9 California Collegiate Athletic Association) take on San Bernardino at 11 a.m. Sunday in the final game of a four game series at Nettleton Stadium.

Austin Schreiber can be reached at [email protected] or @aschreiber94 on Twitter.