The Gators are in first place in the CCAA conference after a 3-1 series victory versus eighth-ranked California State University, Chico. San Francisco State University scored 30 runs this weekend as the offense continues to impress in the early part of the year.
Opening day for conference play took place on Feb. 20, where SFSU hosted Chico State at Maloney Field.
The Chico State Wildcats came into the matchup with a 7-2 record and were ranked eighth in all of Division II baseball. However, they also entered this weekend’s series with a four-game losing streak to SFSU. Their most recent loss was in the first round of playoffs last season.
SFSU trailed early in the first game after seven earned runs were surrendered on senior pitcher Ryan Garza’s line.
Chico State hit a pair of home runs in the third inning, and when Garza left the game with the bases loaded in the fourth inning, center fielder Carson Case hit a grand slam. The Wildcats led 9-0 after the top of the fourth.
The Gators did their best to rally back, putting up nine runs of their own, but the deficit proved to be insurmountable as the Wildcats walked out of the first game with a 10-9 victory.
On Saturday, the Gators had another tough start to the second game, surrendering six runs in the first two innings. But once again, the offense responded with homers from Daniel Murrillo and Jackson Wood, a four-RBI game from Daniel Santos and a game-high three runs scored from Nicholas Allred. The Gators came back to win 10-9 after trailing early.
The Gators have 23 returners from last season’s team and have 33 upperclassmen this year. The roster is battle-tested and can lean on their previous experiences playing college baseball.
Allred, a sophomore outfielder who’s in his second season with the Gators, is the only underclassman who is a regular starter for the team. He credited the team’s early offensive success to the coaching staff’s preparation and his teammates’ energy.
“It’s the preparation throughout the week,” Allred said. “Our coaches do a great job scouting, seeing what other pitchers are going to do to us. They always help me out. Without them [coaches and teammates], you can’t really do anything.”
He is currently tied for first on the team with a .400 batting average and leads the team in scoring with 13 runs. He went 7-18 this weekend with four doubles and eight runs.
The Gators were in serious need of a great start in their third game from their starting pitcher after Garza and Nathan Shinn’s short outings in the first two games. Head coach Tony Schifano handed the ball to senior right-handed pitcher Alekk Trukki, who made his third start of the season.
Trukki pitched five scoreless innings and allowed just two hits and a walk. Unfortunately for Trukki, Maloney Field doesn’t have lights at the field, and the game was cut short due to darkness after a three-hour and 20-minute second game and a 45-minute injury delay. He had only thrown 67 pitches through five shutout innings.
Trukki said he was feeling confident going into his start on Saturday with his team’s stellar defense and the electric bats supporting him.
“With the offense we have, you’re always confident on the mound that they’re going to put up runs,” Allred said. “We have a great defense behind me that made some awesome plays. They helped me keep my pitch count down. They [the offense] relieve a lot of stress for the pitchers. We just have to fill up the zone, not give up anything free and let our defense work.”
Sunday was originally scheduled to solely be the final game of the series, but due to Saturday’s game being postponed, it started with completing game three and then moving on to game four shortly after.
Senior pitcher Anthony Alvarez took the ball to complete the delayed matchup and he picked up where Trukki left off. He put up another scoreless performance and handed the ball off to SFSU closer Andrew Silva. Silva picked up his second save of the season. The Gators won game three 4-0 and led the series 2-1.
Heading into game four, the Gators looked to redshirt senior David Eichhorn to continue the stretch of great pitching.
Eichhorn got the job done and threw six scoreless innings. He allowed just three hits and one walk, while he struck out four batters.
Offensively, the Gators were on attack throughout the whole game. They put up seven runs with the support of home runs from Derek Laferrierre and Justin Johnson. The Gators won game four 7-1 and won the series 3-1.
The Gators had rocky outings from their pitching staff in games one and two, but allowed just one run combined in games three and four, with a 14-inning stretch of shutout baseball.
SFSU has won six of their last seven games and are heating up to start conference play. They have the second best team batting average with .318 as well as team slugging percentage in the conference with .495. Slugging percentage represents how many total bases each batter is expected to get per at bat. To put it into perspective, the Los Angeles Dodgers led all of Major League Baseball last season with a .446 slug percentage in their 162 regular season games.
Schifano said the experience of his roster led to the offensive success and mental toughness to battle back from early deficits.
“When you have a veteran group, you let them go a little bit because they know what it takes to click, what works for them and how to prepare,” Schifano said. “That’s definitely a luxury we have. This weekend showed me that we have a lot of fight, but we still have some things to work on.”
The Gators’ next matchup is against the Cal State San Bernardino Coyotes at Fiscalini Field on Friday, which will be their first CCAA series on the road.
