The California Collegiate Athletic Association baseball schedule is upon us and the very first series of the season pits the Warriors against arch rival, and 37th ranked, Chico State this weekend. Two games will be played in Chico on Friday and Saturday before the series changes scenary for a pair here in Turlock on Sunday.
Stan State Records: 10-1, 0-0 CCAA
Friday
Warriors at #37 Chico State, Nettleton Stadium, Chico, 2 p.m. [
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Saturday
Warriors at #37 Chico State, Nettleton Stadium, Chico, Noon [
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Sunday
#37 Chico State at Warriors, Warrior Baseball Field, Turlock (DH), 1 p.m.
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Series Notes: Stanislaus won three of four games last season over Chico State with all four games played in Turlock. Chico State still holds the upper hand in this long series, 123-62 (54-22 in CCAA play) … Last year's wins had snapped a 13-game losing streak against Chico State, dating back to 2012.
Nationally & Regionally Ranked: The Wildcats are ranked No. 37 in the Collegiate Baseball Top 40, a poll officially recognized by the NCAA as the ranking source. The preseason poll was released on Dec. 21. The NCBWA (National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association) has ranked Chico State No. 3 in the West and the Warriors No. 4 … The d2baseballnews.com poll, a media source, ranked Chico State #26 and the Warriors #27 this week. They are also #3 and #4 in the regional poll, respectively.
Off to Hot Start: Stanislaus State is off to a 10-1 record, which is the program's best start since 2006 when that team started 14-2. Two teams since then — in 2009 and 2011 — had began 9-1. The nine-game winning streak is also the longest since it happened in 2009. The 2006 team had a 11-game winning streak.
Getting Games In: So far, the Warriors have been able to dodge rain-outs and have played all of their scheduled games. To get the games in, head coach
Kenny Leonesio had to move the schedules around a few times, and did a lot of ground work to get the field ready. Stanislaus did play a rain-shortened game last Sunday in game two of the twinbill against Simpson.
Strong Staff: The Stan State pitching staff continued to shine this preseason as they posted a collective 1.88 ERA in 11 games. The Warriors have allowed just 19 earned runs in 91 innings with 92 strikeouts. Opponents batted .207 against them … The bullpen has already recorded eight saves, one more than last season's total …
Micah Hall is 3-0 after three starts with a 2.16 ERA … Three Warriors —
Nick Voumard,
Cody Kruip and
Tyler Murphy — still have not yield an earned run …
Stewart Alexander has a 0.69 ERA after two starts and 13 total innings of work.
Balanced Offense: No one Warrior has really dominated his at-bat regularly as five players are batting .300 or better.
John Holleran is at the top of the list with a .476 average (10-for-21). He also has a .810 slugging percentage with two doubles, a triple and a homerun …
Kyle Nixon (.378),
Austin Fitzpatrick (.318),
Charlie Gaff (.313) and
Kert Woods (.310) are all batting .300 or better … Six Warriors have homered this season with
Kyle Nixon with two.
About Chico State (7-4, 0-0 CCAA): The Wildcats went 1-2 last week at the Houston Winter Invitational at Minute Maid Park in Houston. They beat St. Mary's and lost to Texas A&M Kingsville and Central Missouri … Andru Cardenas leads the team with a .361 average (13 for 36) with six stolen bases … Sonny Cortez is 11-for-37 … Chico has a team ERA of 2.51. Casey Costello leads with a 0.56 ERA and a 2-0 record … The Wildcats are 4-0 so far at home.
