Box Score LA JOLLA – Eric Angerer would have walked across the stage to receive his diploma Saturday had he not been 600 miles south starting a rally that helped the Chico State baseball team matriculate into the NCAA Championship Tournament West Region title game with a 6-5 win against UC San Diego Saturday.
 
Angerer's RBI-double triggered a three-run seventh as Chico State staged what proved to be the game-winning rally at Triton Ballpark in La Jolla. Ryan McClellan singled home the tying run and Connor Huesers hit a high chopper to second and slid head first into first to beat the throw, plating Peter Miller with what proved to be the winning run.
 Angerer and fellow graduates Jesse Silva, Ryne Clark, Ruben Padilla, Nick Baker and Ronnie Galosic are hoping to cross one more big stage in La Jolla.
 
Chico State will learn when and who it's playing following Saturday night's UC San Diego-California Baptist game. If UC San Diego advances it will face the Wildcats Sunday at 2 p.m. If California Baptist moves on the Lancers will meet the Wildcats Monday at 2 p.m.
 
As the lone unbeaten team remaining in the West Regional the 9^th-ranked Wildcats (42-13) will need to be beaten twice to keep them from the Division II College World Series in Cary, North Carolina. If it's necessary, the second game on Sunday or Monday would be at 6 p.m.
 
This is not new territory for the Wildcats, who were in the same position in each of the past two seasons and will play in the West Regional title game for the 12^th time in 19 years. In 2012 they lost to Dixie State in the first game before beating the Red Storm for the West Region title. Last season Grand Canyon beat the Wildcats twice on the final day to send them home bitterly disappointed.
 
That memory was voiced by a number of players just moments after their victory celebration Saturday.
 "We've still got work to do," was the common refrain.
 
The Wildcats put in the kind of work it's going to take to win it all in knocking off UC San Diego, a team that had won five straight to start the postseason and is the top-seeded team in the Regional.
 
Tyler Madrid and Danny Miller homered in the second to give Chico State its first multi-homer game of the season and a 3-0 lead. But the Tritons tied the game with three runs in the fourth and took the lead with two more in the sixth.
 
"We just hung in there. When you score three and then give those back, in a game like this, you can really lose some wind in your sails. But our guys hung in there," said Chico State Head Coach Dave Taylor. "Our energy in the dugout was as good as it's been all year. I am proud of our guys for battling back and finding a way at the end."
 
The sixth inning ended when Huesers hosed Garrett Tuck at the plate with a one-hopper from right field.
 
"That's a great play by their right fielder," said UC San Diego Head Coach Eric Newman, whose 15^th-ranked team dipped to 37-15. "If we score that run maybe we run away with the game."
 Instead, the Wildcats turned the tide in the seventh beginning with Cody Slader's leadoff single and Angerer's one-out double. Angerer's high drive drifted in the wind blowing out to right center and floated just beyond the grasp of right fielder Brandon Shirley. It one-hopped the wind-screened fence as Slader scored easily.
 "I was just looking for a pitch I could drive. I was up 2-0 and got a fastball over the plate," said the fifth-year senior of his 140th career hit. "Off the bat I thought I hit it very well and it didn't look like the outfielder had a good read on it, so luckily it got down."
 
McClellan, who missed opportunities with a runner on third in two of his first three at-bats, came through with the game-tying RBI. He lined a drive to right-center that caromed off a diving Shirley's glove, scoring Angerer.
 
Huesers' hustle single proved to be the game-winning run.
 
"I wasn't going to let that guy beat me to first base," said Huesers. "It was more about all-out effort more than trying to avoid the tag."
 
Chico State starter Brad Lohse gave the Wildcats a good effort for the first three innings, retiring the first nine Tritons he faced. But they got to the unbeaten Wildcat in the fourth, scoring three runs on four hits.
 He walked two of the first three hitters in the fifth and Taylor called upon reliever Robert Hook to get the Wildcats out of the jam. He did, striking out Nick La Face and getting Justin Rahn to ground out to end the inning.
 
After allowing a two-out walk and single, Hook found himself in another jam in the sixth. Tuck's RBI-single gave UC San Diego the lead. Erik Lewis lined a single to left that plated another run before Huesers' throw and Peter Miller's tag put a tourniquet on the inning.
 
Hook (7-2) went two and two-thirds innings for the win.
 
Luke Barker got the final six outs for his third save in three NCAA Championship Tournament games, increasing his school-record to 17.
 
He worked around a one-out single in the eighth and got Michael Mann to ground into the hole at shortstop with two on and two out in the ninth. Slader snared it and threw across the diamond to complete another flawless game by the Wildcats' defense.
 
GAME NOTES – Chico State is now 3-0 in their three NCAA Championship Tournament games against UC San Diego all-time…Baker's 17 saves this season are the third most by any player in Chico State career history, trailing only Nick Burger (2004-05) and Marcus Martinez (2006-07)…The Wildcats are after their ninth NCAA West Region title and trip to the Division II College World Series in 18 years...The Wildcats now boast the fourth highest winning percentage among 40-plus win teams in the program's history