POMONA, Calif. – If the Cal Poly Pomona Broncos and Chico Wildcats baseball programs teach us anything, it's that neither team is down for too long. With a six-run seventh inning, the CPP squad topped the visitors 10-7.
The victory keeps the Broncos at the top of the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) South Division with a 16-9 mark against conference teams. CPP has also secured a 24-13 mark on the season. Chico state now sits at second in the CCAA North with an overall mark of 25-13, complete with a 15-11 record in conference.
After taking the mound in the second,
Ryan Alsworth closed out the game for CPP, tossing eight innings and allowing just two runs to score on six hits. The sophomore struck out five Wildcats and walked just two.
Playing the role of visitor to Scolinos Field, the Chico squad used five pitchers in the contest. The first inning saw the Broncos post four runs without recording a hit and ousting the Chico State starter Dalton Erb.
In that first inning, the scoring got started off as
Caleb Romo drew a bases loaded walk that score
Jared James.
Nic Hernandez then reached on a fielder's choice in which the third baseman botched his throw home, allowing
Jacob Bernardy to score.
With the score at 2-0 and still no outs on the board,
Daniel Pitts reached on a fielder's choice in which the shortstop made an error, keeping zero outs on the board. The final run in the inning came with the first out as
Ryan Webberley knocked a sacrifice fly to center field and scored Romo.
The second inning went to much the same tune, but for the other team. Two bases loaded walks gave them their first two runs, then a fielder's choice sacrifice fly, and double down the line scored the final three. After the second inning, the scoreboard read Chico State with five runs on one hit, and CPP with four runs on zero hits.
Then the bats woke up and hits started flying. In the fifth, Chico added a run to their lead with a scoring fielder's choice.
CPP's seventh showed the tenacity of the Bronco squad in the game. Romo led off the scoring once again as another huge hit in the series came for him via double down the left field line to score Bernardy. Webberley then singled through the right side to send
Jason Padlo home.
With the scored even at 6-6, the Broncos received the "cherry on top" if you will as a bases loaded double for catcher
Cody Martin gave CPP its first lead since the second inning. After Martin's go-ahead RBIs,
Nicholas Bruno doubled to score him and give CPP its final 10-run score.
The Wildcats did tally a run in the eighth, but it wasn't enough to pull their team back.
CPP will return to action next weekend as they head to Cal State LA to take on the Golden Eagles. The first game is set for 6 p.m. on Thursday.
