CHICO, CALIF. - On Friday February 25th, the Sonoma State baseball team opened up CCAA play with a tough rivalry matchup against the 16th ranked Wildcats of Chico State. After a tough first inning for right hander Michael Benz, SSU would give up a 10 spot on 6 hits and dig themselves an early hole against the nationally ranked Wildcats. Benz made his fourth start of the year and after working his way to a respectable 1-1 record and a sub 5.00 ERA, he would have a tough time in the first inning and surrender 8 runs on 5 hits before departing the game. David Newman would make his fourth appearance as well as he came in relief with runners on and just one out. Two batters later, the damage would worsen as Newman would give up a three run shot to make it 10-0 Chico State after one complete inning. 

The hits would continue to pour in for the Wildcats as Chico worked their way up to a 15 run lead after just three innings of play. Marin College transfer Nick Roth would enter the game to start the fourth and give the Seawolves some well needed life as he was able to get a strike 'em out throw 'em out sequence to end the inning and give SSU their first clean half inning. The scoreless fourth would provide some energy at the plate for head coach John Goelz and his group as a leadoff walk and an infield single from Ezele Wicks would put runners in scoring position. After a sac fly from pinch hitter Sean Pauly moved Simmons to third, Torreahno Sweet would come through and plate the first SSU run of the game on an RBI single through the left side. Two batters later Braeden Holliday would come up and on the first pitch he would punch a soft liner into the 4-3 hole and off the bat, Wicks was busting from second base and got the green light heading around third as he would slide in for the Seawolves second run of the inning. Great heads up base running from Wicks would give Holliday his team leading 11th RBI of the season. Roth would get another strikeout in the bottom of the 5th and throw his second scoreless inning of his outing. He would finish with a season high 4 innings pitched giving up just 1 run on 2 hits. 

Freshman Jared Esparza would pinch hit in the 6th and after a 1-out hit by pitch to Nick Simmons, Esparza would double to right center to score Simmons from first. That would go down as the freshman's 4th RBI of the season as he has started his 2022 campaign 5-14 from the dish with a double and a home run. In the 9th, the Seawolves would put up 3 runs on 4 hits and force a pitching change before recording the final in a lopsided Wildcats victory. Some notable performers for SSU included Josh Lopez who went 3-3 from the plate with a run scored and a walk as he reached base in all four of his plate appearances. Senior shortstop Nick Simmons was also perfect from the plate today as he went 2-2 and drew 2 walks to reach base all four times. Prior to today's game, Simmons only had two hits on the season but was able to double that total today and start to pick up some nice momentum at the plate. Esparza was also able to come in as a pinch hitter later in the game and record two hits including an RBI double. Sonoma State would pile on the hits in the second half of this one, finishing with 13 hits in the contest.    

SSU drops the series and conference opener with 16th ranked Chico State as they fall to 3-7 overall and 0-1 in CCAA play. The Seawolves will return to action tomorrow afternoon as they play a doubleheader with the Wildcats at 12:00 & 3:00 pm. Live stats and stream links can be found at sonomaseawolves.com and all games can be streamed live on the CCAA Network. Be sure to follow your Seawolves on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to get all the latest SSU athletics updates and information. Sonoma State athletics also has launched a new fan app in partnership with From Now On. Download the free app today in both the Apple and Google Play stores by searching Sonoma State Seawolves in the app store. @SonomaSeawolves | #NomaNation