TURLOCK — The Cal State Stanislaus baseball team continues to roll as the Warriors beat Chico State for the first time since 2012 as they bounced the Wildcats, 10-2, Tuesday late afternoon.
In the series finale that took more than seven weeks to complete,
James Heller and
Marcus Mastrobuoni smacked the Chico State pitchers around as the Warriors improved to 18-20 overall and 13-15 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association.
The Warriors snapped a 13-game losing streak to Chico State, dating back to May 5, 2012. It is also Stanislaus' first win against the Wildcats here in Turlock since March 20, 2010, ending a nine-game skid.
Stanislaus continues this mid-season run and has now gone 12-3 in its last 15 games to put the Warriors in the conversation for the CCAA postseason tournament. The Warriors are now tied for sixth with two other teams and are just a game back of fifth place Sonoma State. Cal State Monterey Bay, at 20-12 in CCAA play, is in fourth. The top four teams in the final standings advance to the conference tournament in Stockton, May 7-10.
Tuesday was the second make-up date of the washed out Feb. 22 series finale when the first rescheduled date, April 7, was also rained out.
But during the finally dry, but windy, Tuesday afternoon make-up game, it was all Cal State Stanislaus on offense. The Warriors jumped on Chico emergency starter Robert Hook early and scored four times in the first inning. Heller cleared the bases with a three-run double to cap-off the four-run first.
But the time they chased Hook, it was 6-0 in the third. Heller again contributed to the scoring inning with a RBI single. Kurt Laver also gave up a run in the third as the Warriors took a 7-0 lead into the fourth.
With an early cushion,
Donnie Fairchilds, who was making his first start in 2015, earned the win after going five innings. He gave up a run on five hits before allowing the back of the bullpen staff to get some innings in.
Heller would pick up another RBI in the seventh with his second double of the game to finish 3-for-4 with two doubles and five RBIs. Mastrobuoni started two of the rallies and ended up 4-for-5 in the game. The reigning CCAA batting champion is now batting .369.
Patrick Mulry went 1-for-3 with three runs batted in, including a two-run single in the fifth to chip in.
Michael Chavarria also went 2-for-4.
Chico State (15-20, 14-18 CCAA) ended up using seven pitchers and 14 position players in the game. Clayton Gelfand and Danny Miller each had two hits.
The Warriors will take the hot-streak into this weekend's series when they host No. 27 ranked UC San Diego. The Tritions will come to Turlock in a virtual tie for first with Cal Poly Pomona with a 21-10 CCAA record. Game one of the series is Friday at 6 p.m.