STOCKTON — Pitching on home soil, CCAA Freshman of the Year Rylan Tinsley dealt strikes while the Stanislaus State offense went yard four times as the Warriors defeated Chico State, 11-6, late Wednesday night in the CCAA Baseball Tournament at Banner Island Ballpark.
 
The victory — the Warriors' first postseason win since 2008 — moves No. 4 seed Stan State to another 7 p.m. contest Thursday night versus No. 2 seed Cal State Monterey Bay. CSUMB defeated No. 5 San Francisco State, 8-5, in an earlier game.
 
Stanislaus State hit four home runs in the game against Chico State, including back-to-back bombs in the four-run fourth inning for an 8-3 lead. First Matt Elser slammed a three-run shot to left then Nathan Gutierrez smashed a long drive over the Jackson Rancheria Back Porch building.
 
Jayce Gardner and Jack Large each hit homers in the seventh to add to the lead after the Wildcats attempted to comeback and cut the lead to 8-6.
 
The four homers in the game is the most by the Warriors since last March 29 at Cal State San Bernardino. It was the most homers allowed by Chico State since the 2017 CCAA Tournament when it gave up four to Cal State L.A.
 


Stockton native Tinsley, who was named the conference's top freshman on Tuesday, struck out a tournament-record 13 batters in 6 2/3 innings. He allowed just a run on six hits in a game that started with a lot of offense.
 
After the Warriors took a 1-0 lead in the first, Chico State answered with three runs that included two doubles for a 3-1 game. Stan State bounced right back with three runs in the second keyed by a two-run double by Braeden Oki to regain the lead.
 
Then, up 4-3, Elser's line-drive homer scored three, followed by Gutierrez's solo shot to make it 8-3.

The bottom of the order — No. 6 through 9 – went 7-for-15 with three home runs, a double, drove in eight runs and scored seven. Grant Victor was 3-for-4 and the No. 7-9 batters (Gardner, Elser and Gutierrez) all hit dingers.
 
Starter Chase Wheatcroft got into a jam in the third and was replaced after allowing a double to Cody Wissler. Tinley gave up a two-run single to Myles Moran but settled down after that. Tinsley struck out five consecutive batters until a lead-off walk in the fifth that eventually led to an infield single that scored Alex DeVito.
 
The southpaw would continue his dominance, allowing just six baserunners the rest of the way while collecting K's. He struck out consecutive Wildcats to end the game.
 
Tinsley finally recorded his eighth win of the season while becoming the fourth Warrior to win eight games in the last four years. Joe Ryan (2018), Stewart Alexander (2017) and Jordan Kron (2017 and 2016) were the previous eight-game winners since 2016.

No. 6 Cal Poly Pomona won the first game on the day over No. 1 UC San Diego, 3-2.