TURLOCK — Up next: The CCAA Tournament.
Despite being swept in the doubleheader on Saturday, the Stanislaus State Warriors will be the No. 4 seed in the conference tournament, which begins on Wednesday at Stockton's Banner Island Ballpark.
The Warriors (29-21, 25-19 CCAA) will face the same Chico State team, the No. 3 seed, at 7 p.m. in the first round game. Regular season winner UC San Diego opens with No. 6 Cal Poly Pomona at 11 a.m., followed by No. 2 Cal State Monterey Bay versus No. 5 San Francisco State at 3 p.m. at the home of the Stockton Ports.
Chico State defeated Stan State, 5-3 and 1-0, in the regular season's final day of play.
Stanislaus State had a rough time coming up with key hits in the two tough losses on Saturday. Collectively the Warriors were 1 for 15 with runners in scoring position in the twinbill — and the one hit only moved the runner from second to third.
The Warriors had chances, especially in the 1-run nightcap loss, before leaving 10 runners on base. Most notably was a bases loaded nobody out situation in the second inning. A 5-2-3 double play and a pop-up ended that rally.
Jack Large just missed a three-run homer in the third when he hit a shot to the centerfield warning track. With two on and one out in the sixth, another twin-killing ended that inning. In the seventh, with the winning run at first, a fly-out ended the day of frustrations on offense.
The finale loss spoiled another great outing by
Kevin Hahn, who suffered the tough loss. He gave up the run in the first inning but cruised the rest of the way in the seven-inning complete game.
In game one, after the teams were locked in a 2-2 tie since the first inning, Stanislaus State went up by a run in the eighth on a fielding error by the Chico second baseman.
However, Chico State responded with three runs in the ninth without really hitting the ball hard. The Stanislaus State bullpen blew its first save opportunity at home all season.
Grant Bunker hit a two-run bomb to centerfield in the first to tie the game at 2-2.
Braeden Oki and
Vinny Margiotta each had two hits. Margiotta had three hits in game two for a five-hit day.
The Warriors are making their fourth appearance in the CCAA Tournament, their second in three years. They went 0-2, with losses to UC San Diego and Chico State, in 2017.