CHICO, Calif. — With rain wreaking havoc on the season so far, the San Francisco State baseball team finally got a complete doubleheader in on Sunday. However, the Gators had to travel to Chico State, who were the visiting team at their home diamond of Nettleton Stadium. The Gators came away with a pair of one-run victories, 5-4 and 10-9, to remain undefeated.
- SF State hit .362 (21-of-58) in the doubleheader and raised its team batting average to .318.
- Harley Lopez blasted a pair of homers in game two and now has three on the season. He went 2-for-6 with three runs, five RBIs, and a pair of walks.
- Jackson Kritsch had a pair of hits, three runs, and a pair of walks.
- Brady Dorn went 3-for-7 with three RBIs, a pair of runs, and a walk.
- Riley Cleary went 4-for-8 with a pair of runs.
- Jonah Gonzales was 3-for-3 with a run and an RBI in game one.
- Shaq Robinson went 3-for-5 and drove in three runs.
- Collin Gabel went 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs and a walk in game one.
- Catcher Jason Hare threw out a pair of runners. Offensively, he had a hit, a pair of runs, and drew a walk.
- In game two, SF State reached base in every inning.
GAME ONE
- Chico State took a 1-0 lead in the first. In the second, leadoff batter Tyler Stoifel was hit by a pitch and scored on Michael Lagier's two-out single.
- In the bottom of the second, Gabel singled and a throwing error on the play allowed Cleary to score. In the bottom of the third, Jack Harris' bases-loaded single tied it 2-2. Later in the inning, Jonah Gonzales put the Gators up with a single up the middle.
- In the top of the fifth, Dustin Miller tied the game with a single that chased starter Jordyn Eglite.
- Gonzales led off the bottom of the sixth with a double to left center for his third hit of the day and scored when Collin Gabel's grounder to short took a nasty hop over Tyler Grissom for an RBI single and a 4-3 Gators lead.
- Brady Dorn singles home Kritsch in the seventh for an insurance run.
- Miller's two-out single in the top of the eighth made it a one-run ballgame again but Romero got the strikeout to strand a pair.
- Eglite went the first four and a third innings for the Gators. He allowed three runs, two earned, on four hits and struck out two.
- Sebastian Selway picked up the win. He went one and two third innings. He allowed two hits and struck out two. Selway got the Gators out of a jam in the fifth, then pitched a scoreless sixth.
- Hudson Hartley gave up one run in one and two third innings of work.
- Joshua Romero picked up the save. He allowed an inherited runner, charged to Hartley, in the eight but got a strikeout to end the inning then faced the minium in the ninth. He started with a groundout, pinch runner Andrew Renteria was picked off, and Brandon Hernandez was caught stealing by Hare to end the game.
GAME TWO
- A leadoff walk, a hit batter, an error, and a passed ball gave the Wildcats a 3-0 lead and a two-out bunt single by Michael Lagier made it 4-0 before the Gators got out of the top of the first. In the bottom of the first, the Gators cut the lead in half with Robinson's two-run single to right.
- A pair of Gators errors allowed the Wildcats to get the runs right back in the second and pushed the deficit to 6-2.
- SF State answered yet again. Mitch Sancier walked and Jackson Kritsch singled, which put runners at the corners. Kritsch stole second, then both runners scored on Dorn's two-out double to cut the lead to 6-4.
- Sancier and Kritsch drew back-to-back walks to start the fourth, then Harley Lopez crushed a three-run homer to right that gave the Gators a 7-6 lead. With two outs, Trevor Rogers was hit by a pitch and scored on a Robinson double that made it 8-6.
- Hare, who came in as a defensive replacement in the top of the fifth, led off the bottom of the fifth with a double, then scored on Lopez's second homer of the day, another blast to right.
- The Wildcats threatened in the sixth with a two-out, three-run rally that cut the lead to 10-9. The Gators left the bases loaded in the bottom half of the inning but the Gators held Chico State scoreless in the seventh.
- Jeff Piver and the Gators defense spotted the Wildcats a 4-0 lead in the first. Piver gave up a pair of unearned runs in the second before getting out of the inning with a 5-3 double play.
- Nate Jenkins pitched a scoreless third inning.
- Jack Higgins pitched perfect fourth and fifth innings and had two retired in the sixth but was touched for three runs.
- Dylan Madole struck out two and picked up the save.
The Gators are scheduled to travel to Southern California to Cal State San Marcos for another CCAA series, March 1-3. Be sure to follow San Francisco State baseball on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at @sfstatebaseball.
