CHICO -- Senior first baseman Adam Fonville made up for a poor day Thursday on the bases and in the field with one swing of the bat against UC San Diego Friday. Fonville drove a double to deep left-center field to score Jacob Thelen and give the Warriors their first-ever CCAA Championship Tournament win, 6-5, against the Tritons.
Fonville was called out Thursday on the bases after failing to tag up correctly from second base. He also threw a potential double play ball into center field which led to a three-run inning for Sonoma State, who went on to win 5-1.
Friday, Fonville went 2-for-5 with perhaps his biggest RBI of his career. Thelen got on base in the bottom of the 10th with a two-out single through the left side, and Fonville drove him in after the Tritons' left fielder Evan Kehoe bobbled the ball against the fence, giving Thelen that extra step to slide in safely at home for the win.
All year long everyone was picking me up, " Fonville said. "(Kyle) Loretelli had a year for us. I just kept working hard."
The win is the Warriors' single season record 37th of the season, moving their overall record to 37-20. UC San Diego is eliminated from the CCAA Tournament, but with a No. 1 NCAA West Region ranking, the Tritons are sure to play in next week's NCAA West Regional Tournament.
The Warriors will now face the loser of the Sonoma State-Chico State game at 7 p.m. in another elimination game for a spot in Saturday's championship game.
The Warriors trailed 4-0 after four innings. The Tritons took a 2-0 lead in the second inning on a two-RBI single by catcher Michael Benton off of Warrior Starter Andrew Stueve. A two-run homerun by Garrett Imeson gave the Tritons a 4-0 lead and knocked out Stueve.
The Warriors began their comeback in the bottom of the fourth inning when Jake Oketani hit his third homerun of the year, a solo shot to right-center field to make the score 4-1. The Warriors picked up another run in the fifth inning on a sacrifice fly by Jeff Bellotti to cut the deficit in half, 4-2.
Senior relief pitcher Andrew DeMott replaced Stueve and threw 5 2/3 innings, striking out four and walking just one. DeMott came in and shut down the Tritons and allowed the Warriors to climb back in the game.
"That was unbelievable," Warrior Head Coach Kenny Leonesio said. "(DeMott) did a great job."
The Warriors finally took the lead in the bottom of the seventh with three runs after loading the bases with no outs. Oketani reached on a fielder's choice, scoring Loretelli, David Contreras hit an RBI single and Thelen had an RBI double to give the Warriors a 5-4 lead.
The Tritons came back in the top of the ninth, finally breaking through against DeMott with an RBI single from pinch hitter Chris Hom to make the score 5-5.
Eric Federico pitched a scoreless 10th inning to earn the win. Thelen finished 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. Oketani missed the cycle for the second time this season, going 3-for-5 and needing a triple. Loretelli went 2-for-5 and Dennis Wolfe was 2-for-4. The Warriors had 14 hits to UC San Diego's 11.
