KEIZER, Ore. – The Chico State baseball team is one win away from the Division II College World Series. Myles Dempsey delivered two hits and three RBI and Sean Martin tossed five shutout innings in relief as the Wildcats defeated Dixie State 5-1 in a second-round NCAA Championship Tournament West Regional game at Volcano Stadium.
UC San Diego and Dixie State will square off in an elimination game at 1 pm Saturday, with the winner meeting up with the Wildcats at 5 pm. If the Wildcats win, they’ll be one of eight teams booking a flight to Cary, North Carolina for the Division II College World Series. If they lose, they’ll play the same team again Sunday for the West Region title and College World Series berth.
“We’ll go out to to eat at the same places we did last night,” laughed head coach Dave Taylor when asked about being one win away from the regional title. “Other than that, we’ll wake up tomorrow and get ready to play just like we did today.”
If they do play like they have over the first two games of the regional, the Wildcats will be tough to beat.
Martin and starter Troy Neiman combined on a seven-hitter while striking out eight. Neiman was making his first start in two weeks and second this month and allowed just one run on five hits in four innings. He struck out five while pitching three straight scoreless innings and then got out of a bases-loaded one-out jam in the fourth, allowing only one run on a sacrifice fly.
Martin entered with runners on first and second with no outs in the fifth, shut down the rally, and then cruised through five innings of two-hit ball. He improved to 5-3 with the win.
“Troy gave us exactly what we were looking for and then Sean did what he’s been doing all year. It’s nice to have an ace in the hole with him,” said Taylor. “Sean’s been our go-to guy in big situations. He’s the middle innings stopper and I don’t think we would be sitting here today without him on our pitching staff.”
Martin got a huge out on his first pitch of the night, pouncing off the mound to throw a runner out at third on a sacrifice bunt attempt. That helped quell the Dixie State rally that completely fizzled when Martin coaxed a ground ball to third for the second out and then a fly ball to center to end the inning.
“My job is to get the ball in play,” said Martin. “To trust the pitch and hit my spot and trust the defense to make plays behind me.”
The Wildcats’ Cody Foster flipped the script in the bottom half of the inning by laying down a perfect sacrifice bunt that set the stage for Chico State’s four-run fifth that proved to be the difference in the game.
“We tell them in the fall when we work on (bunting) day in and day out that at some point in May you’re going to need to be able to get a bunt down in order for us to keep playing. If they can’t do it, we move on to the next guy,” said Taylor. “It paid off today. We get it down. They don’t. That’s a big inning.”
Dempsey made sure of that. TJ Yasuhara and Ian McKay were both hit by pitches leading off the frame, and after Foster’s bunt, Blake Gibbs was intentionally walked to load the bases. The designated hitter hammered a 2-2 pitch to right-center to plate two runs and give Chico State the lead for good. It was his second two-strike RBI-hit on the day. He hit a 3-2 pitch back through the box to bring home Gibbs with the game’s first run in the first.
“It’s all about taking a tough at-bat and not getting down with two strikes,” said Dempsey. “You feel a sense of urgency in those situations and I just used it to motivate myself.”
Shane Kroker followed with a squeeze bunt that brought home another run and Pierson Jeremiah joined the fun with his second RBI-single of the regional to give the Wildcats the 5-1 lead.
Dempsey, now 4-for-8 with five RBI in the regional, and McKay (4-for-8) finished with two hits apiece. Gibbs and Jeremiah each reached base twice as well.
Martin recorded outs against the first seven batters he faced and the final eight. The junior right hander did surrender consecutive singles with one down in the seventh. But he got the second out with a fly ball and the third when first baseman Eric Angerer made a superb snag of a line drive ticketed to the right field corner.
Chico State improved to 39-16 with the win while Dixie State dipped to 33-19. The Wildcats are also now 73-45 all time in the postseason, including 49-24 in the West Regional. They’re one more postseason win away from the program’s eighth West Region title in the last 16 years.
They’re hoping that celebration comes Saturday night.
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