Courtesy Dixie State Sports Information

KEIZER, OR – Six runs in the first inning on Sunday, May 20, proved enough for Chico State.

The Wildcats won the NCAA Division II West Baseball Regional and earned a trip to the USA Baseball Training Complex in Cary, NC, by defeating Dixie State College 7-3 at Volcanoes Stadium.

The Red Storm fell just short of competing for a national championship, seeing its season end with a 35-20 overall record. Chico State returns to the NCAA Baseball Championships for the eighth time in the last 16 years.

Mike Dedrick took the ball for Dixie State and struggled to find command early with anything other than his fastball. In the Wildcat first, he plunked the opening two batters and walked another to load the bases with two outs.

A third hit batter pushed across the Cats first run. Shane Kroker added two with a single to center field and a subsequent double that ended Dedrick’s day early. Chico State supplemented with a sacrifice fly and RBI single to tally six runs on three hits.

Stefan Cantwell, in relief of Dedrick, closed his freshman year with six quality innings of relief. He allowed one run while scattering five to go along with three strike outs. Jordan Blanchard retired all five batters he faced to finish the year with a 1.17 ERA.

Dixie State notched a run with two outs in the third inning. Garrett Nash doubled to the wall in right field and scored on a single to right by Colton Yack.

The Wildcat lead was cut to 6-3 in the sixth inning when Jayden Darrington blasted a pinch-hit two-run homer to left field off Sean Martin.

Chico scored an insurance run in the seventh. Martin allowed two hits after the Darrington homer to pick up his second win over the Red Storm in the regional.

Hanley, Yack and Joe Andrade each had two hits as the Red Storm out-hit the Wildcats nine to seven.