Box Score | CHICO, Calif. – The Cal Poly Pomona baseball team defeated Chico State in a thrilling 6-4 victory Sunday at Nettleton Stadium.
With the win, CPP has secured its first postseason berth since 2011. The Broncos will finish their regular season on Tuesday with a 5 p.m. non-conference game at Azusa Pacific. From there, CPP will move on to the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Championship Tournament to be held in Stockton from May 8 through May 11.
The results of next weekend's CCAA action will determine the tournament seeding but the field of four teams will include the Broncos along with Chico State, Sonoma State and UC San Diego. CPP has a bye in the final week of the CCAA regular season.
Sunday's game in Chico remained in a tie score of 4-4 heading into the top of the ninth, when
Nick Cooksey provided a clutch go-ahead hit to put the Broncos in front.
J.J. Franklin entered in relief during the bottom of the ninth with just one out and the bases loaded. The junior from Chino picked up a strikeout and then a game-ending groundball out to secured his school-record eighth save.
Bo Walter finished 3-for-4 to lead the Broncos' offensive effort. Cooksey and
Trevor Magno also posted multi-hit games with two hits apiece. Sophomore
Cody Ponce pitched the first six innings for CPP and then
Austin Boyle turned in a shutout relief performance, going 2.1 innings with just one hit allowed. Boyled ended up tallying the win to improve his record to 4-0.
Magno also contributed the defensive play of the game to help the Broncos escape a tough jam in the bottom of the eighth. With two outs and runners on the corners, Magno slid to his right to stop a ground ball and then throw it to Walter just in time to record Ryan McClellan as the final out of the frame.
It proved to be a playoff-style atmosphere at Nettleton Stadium this weekend as the matchup featured two nationaly-ranked teams of No. 6 Chico hosting No. 11 Cal Poly Pomona. Ultimately, the Wildcats captured the series win 2-1. Because of the late finish to game No. 1 and the necessary bus travel back to Pomona, the second game of Sunday's doubleheader did not take place.
