Before the series began, the baseball team knew two other teams were vying for the Wildcats' position in the California Collegiate Athletic Association Championship. Three wins would defeat both and bring the Wildcats to postseason.
The team won its first game, lost the second and won the third.
Then the team took to the plate for the final game of the series.
"Our guys understood what they had to do or our season was over with," said head coach Dave Taylor.
The team took the lead in the first inning of the final game of the series when Josh Meagher smacked a homer, bringing in three runs and taking the score to 3-0.
In the second inning, Jimmy Dodos hit a two-run double to right center field. One more run came in that inning, bringing the lead to 6-0.
"We put hits together," Dodos said.
The Coyotes didn't stand for that, as they hit a home run, batting in three runs and bringing San Bernardino back in the game.
Pitcher Joel Garcia kept the Coyotes down to three runs until the seventh inning, when the Coyotes homered again. One more home run in the ninth inning brought the Coyotes to five runs.
The designated hitter stepped up to bat for the Coyotes. He was the tying run, with another Coyote on second. Kyle Woodruff, who had stepped in during the final inning for Garcia, tossed in two strikes and two balls. The Coyote swung at a fastball and missed, giving the Wildcats the win and a position in the championship series.
"The tying run was on the plate, so one mistake could have lost it for us," Woodruff said.
Similarly, in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader, relief pitcher Bryan Save took the mound. With the tying run on the plate, Save gave up a single before striking out a pinch hitter to get his first save of the season. The 'Cats won that game 7-5.
Earlier that day, the Coyotes were able to outscore the 'Cats 9-5. The Wildcats couldn't get a hit in the last four innings, though not for lack of trying. The team had four pop flies, three strikeouts and three groundouts.
"That's just baseball," Taylor said.
The loss and subsequent fight for Saturday's win brought Taylor confidence, he said.
The biggest score difference, 7-1, was Friday in the first game of the series. Pete Mickartz, the second freshman in Chico State history to win 10 games, got his 11th win Friday. He kept the Coyotes to no runs until the ninth inning, when he gave up an RBI single.
Overall, Jimmy Dodos beat the rest of the team with six RBIs, while Meagher had five RBIs, including a home run in the last game.
"San Bernardino played us real hard," Dodos said. "There were no easy games."
The series was stressful because the players knew they had to win three of four games, he said. Even though the team is happy and relieved it won, more needs to be accomplished.
"Now we need to forget about it and get ready for postseason," Dodos said.
The 'Cats, now 24-11 in conference, made it to the NCAA Tournament 10 times in the past 12 years, only missing out in 2001 and 2003.
Elizabeth Varin can be reached at evarin@theorion.com
NCAA Div. II regional rankings Chico State 7, Cal State San Bernardino 1 Cal State San Bernardino 9, Chico State 5 Chico State 7, Cal State San Bernardino 5 Chico State 7, Cal State San Bernardino 5
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