The Wildcats split the weekend series with Cal State San Marcos Sunday afternoon after giving up three home runs in the finale, ultimately losing 11-7.
The seventh inning was the turning point in the game, seeing the Cougars score eight runs off eight hits and three homers. The Wildcats went through four pitchers that inning, and it proved to be enough to earn the Cougars a win.
Head Coach Dave Taylor spoke about the team’s play on Sundays, stressing the need to do a better job closing out series.
“We had a chance to win a series at home. Those opportunities don’t come around every weekend.” — Dave Taylor
The Wildcats were coming off two big wins Saturday and had all the momentum coming in, which they looked to use to their advantage.
Sophomore Ethan Lay started the game for the Wildcats, throwing three solid innings, only giving up one hit and striking out two.
The Wildcats started the game hot, going up 2-0 by the second inning, knocking Cougar’s starter Bruno De Leon out of the game after only one inning. Junior Alexander Johnson continued his offensive tear this season with an RBI single to right field that scored Lorenzo Mariani. Johnson is now hitting .417 on the year, among the highest on the team.
The Cougars answered back in the fifth inning, scoring two runs to tie the game up at two a piece.
Junior Stefan Foley, who came in to pinch hit, broke the tie in the sixth inning off a double that was smoked to left field, scoring two.
“Coming off the bench is always tough, but I was ready and looking for just anything in the zone,” Foley said.
Though the Cougars went up big after the seventh, the Wildcats still had some fight left in the ninth, scoring three runs. Two of the runs came off a double down the line from Jeremy Keller, but it ultimately was not enough to come back from their deficit.
The Wildcats now look ahead to a series against Cal State LA, which will be played at Reeder Field in Los Angeles.
Coach Taylor said the team looks to go into Los Angeles and make a statement. But more importantly, he stressed the need to be more consistent instead of splitting series.
“Do we want to be a .500 team or do we want to be more than that?” Taylor said. “We need to start moving the needle forward if we want to be that team.”
The first game is on Friday at 6 p.m., and the game can be streamed here.
For information about all Chico State athletics, visit the Wildcat homepage.
Nathan Chiochios can be reached at [email protected].
