CHICO, Calif- Sonoma State suffered their first shutout of the year on Sunday, 3-0, before bouncing back to beat Chico State 4-1 in a regular season ending doubleheader in Chico. Glen Wood got the win and Paige Dumont tied the school's career saves record in the game two victory.
The games meant little as both teams had already clinched their spot in next weekend¹s CCAA Championship Tournament, and had even locked up their seeding. Sonoma State, now 46-10 overall and 29-7 in the CCAA, will be the top seed and face fourth-seeded UC San Diego Thursday at 3 p.m. to open the postseason. The Wildcats, who finished the regular season 44-11 overall and 25-11 in the CCAA, are the No. 3 seed and will face tournament host Cal State L.A. Thursday at 7 p.m.
Chico's Billy Spottiswood turned in what was perhaps the most dominating performance of his Chico State career in his last home start on what was billed Senior Day at Nettleton Stadium. He allowed five singles, only three of which left the infield, struck out 11, and walked only one. Spottiswood, who has now struck out 25 batters in his last two starts, improved to 10-3 with the victory.
Meanwhile, the Wildcats got an RBI-single off the bat of Jesus Luna and a two-run homer to left from Smyth, and that was all the scoring they would need. Sonoma State starter Matt Bush pitched well enough to win, allowing only three runs on seven hits in seven innings while striking out nine, but took the loss to fall to 8-2. Bush also got Chico State¹s Daniel Code out three times and helped to end his Chico State record 22-game hitting streak.
Luna (2-for-4) and Sonoma State catcher Ian Bridges (2-for-4) were the only two players to manage two hits in the game.
In the second game, Sonoma State¹s Glen Wood allowed only one run in four-and-two-thirds innings to collect the win and improve to 3-1.Matt Garnett recorded one out in relief, and Paige Dumont scattered three hits over the final two innings to earn his 16th save of the season. He ties Tony Graf's career saves mark and betters his own single-season record.
Garrett Rieck took the loss for Chico State, falling to 3-1, despite allowing only two runs only one of which was earned in six innings of work.
The Seawolves got all the runs they would need in the first frame. David Adler reached on an error to open the game and eventually scored on a wild pitch, and Nick Nosti scored on B.J. Collom¹s single through the right side to make it 2-0.
Chico State trimmed the lead to 2-1 in the third when Carl Fairburn led off with a single and came around to score on Smyth¹s RBI-grounder. But Wood struck out Chico State cleanup hitter Aaron Demuth looking with the bases loaded to escape further trouble.
Sonoma State added a pair of insurance runs in the seventh on Adler¹s RBI-double and Collom¹s RBI-single. Collom, who went 2-for-4 with two RBI, and Konrad Thieme (2-for-2) were the only two Seawolves to record two hits in the nightcap. Greg Finazzo led Chico State with two hits in three at-bats.
