The Chico State men’s baseball team got off to a hot start, opening the season by taking both games of the doubleheader Thursday against the Montana State University Billings (14-2) and (3-1). 

In game one, the Wildcats came out with their bats blazing. In the bottom second inning, catcher Daniel Vierra fought through an astounding 12-pitch at-bat, which ended when Vierra homered to deep left field for the Wildcats’ first runs of the year. 

The third inning was when the Wildcat bats started to come on, as Neko Capsaliaris, Stefan Foley, Jeremy Keller, Elijah Pascual and Alexander Johnson combined for six hits, with two being doubles. 

This left the Wildcats with six runs through three innings, and the Yellowjackets still scoreless. 

Foley was one of the outstanding players at the plate for the Wildcats, scoring three runs and two runs batted in through five plate appearances.

“I usually try to hunt the fastball and get connected as soon as I can,” Foley said.

For the remainder of the game, the Wildcats maintained control with their bats while riding on the back of starting pitcher Kevin Lyons, who was dealing all game. Lyons had a stellar outing, going five innings and only giving up one run whilst striking out six of the Yellowjackets hitters. 

The Wildcats finish off the Yellowjackets in game one with a final score of (14-2). 

Game two was a seven-inning affair defined by the shutdown pitching performance from sophomore Ethan Lay. 

Lay was pounding the strike zone from the very first pitch to the last, as he struck out eight while only giving up one run. Lay threw a seven-inning complete game for the Wildcats and never gave the Yellowjackets any hope of coming back and winning.   

“I trust my team and that they’re going to get the job done,” Lay said. “They chipped away, so that’s all you can really ask for.”

It would’ve been difficult for the Wildcats to repeat their last hitting performance at the plate, but in the bottom of the sixth, junior Casey Vogan lined one up the middle, scoring Foley and giving Lay some insurance runs. 

These performances led the Wildcats to win game two (3-1).

The Wildcats look to close out the series sweep against the Yellowjackets on Friday at 2 p.m. at Nettleton Stadium and continue this hot start to the season. 

Lukas Mann can be reached at [email protected].