Box Score

CHICO, Calif. – The Chico State baseball team has been tough to beat at home all season. Joey Burke, Josh Meagher, and Shane Farmer have been tough to beat anywhere lately. The story remained the same in the Wildcats' 8-3 victory against Cal State Dominguez Hills Friday night. Burke went 2-for-3 with a three-run double to stretch his hitting streak to 13 games, Meagher was 3-for-3 to increase his hitting streak to 11 games and his team-leading batting average to .417, and Farmer was 2-for-3 and is now hitting .477 over his last 19 games as the Wildcats improved to 20-4 at Nettleton Stadium in 2008.
 
Chico State, which enters the weekend in fourth place in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA), improved to 29-12 overall and 18-10 with the win. They also picked up key ground on third-place Cal State Stanislaus, which was idle, and further distanced themselves from fifth-place Cal State L.A., which lost to Cal State San Bernardino Friday. The Wildcats now trail Cal State Stanislaus by one game, and lead Cal State L.A. by two-and-a-half games with seven games remaining on their CCAA schedule. The top four teams in the CCAA will qualify for the CCAA Championship Tournament.
 
Wildcats starter Pete Mickartz (9-3) recovered from a shaky start to earn the win on the mound by retiring the last 11 hitters he faced. He allowed three runs on eight hits in seven innings of work. The redshirt freshman struck out four and walked one. Jr. Garcia and Bryan Save worked the final two innings without allowing a hit. Save was particularly impressive in only his third appearance of the season, striking out the side in the ninth.
 
Starting pitcher Jeff Phillips took the loss for Cal State Dominguez Hills, falling to 4-4. He allowed eight runs (six earned) on 10 hits in four-and-two-thirds innings. Matt Phillips and Evan Jachno each fired one-and-two-thirds innings of scoreless relief.
 
Cal State Dominguez Hills led the game 1-0 in the first, 2-1 in the second, and 3-2 in the fourth. Candelario Flores, Cody Puckett, and Martin Conde each drove in runs. But the Wildcats tied the game 3-3 in the bottom of the fourth on Kyle Eveland's RBI-bunt. They then took complete control in the fifth when Burke capped a five-run inning with a bases-clearing double to center field to make it 8-3.
 
Cody Dee had singled home the go-ahead run earlier in the inning and then Farmer added to the lead with a sacrifice fly.
 
The teams continue their four-game series with a doubleheader Saturday at noon followed by a single game Sunday at noon.

(Courtesy of Chico State)