Chico State Offense Erupts to Spoil Toros “Senior Day” as CSUDH Baseball Falls 16-1
April 29, 2007

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Carson, CA - In a game that featured 27 seniors between the two teams, it was only fitting that a pair of seniors drove in the most runs for their respective squads as the Wildcats’ Greg Finazzo drove in six runs and hit for the cycle while the Toros MurphiBennett Kennedy (Los Angeles, CA/Mission College) broke up the shutout attempt in the bottom of the 7th with a pinch hit RBI single to right field as visiting and 12th-ranked Chico State spoiled CSUDH “Senior Day” by taking a 16-1 win to sweep the four-game set. With the loss CSUDH falls to 13-34-1, 9-23 CCAA and CSUC improves to 42-9, 23-9 CCAA.

The final game of the four-game series seemed as though it was going to be a pitcher’s duel early on, as Toro starter Gus Hernandez (Lynwood, CA/Lynwood HS) set down the first eight Wildcats he faced in order, while his counter part Kyle Woodruff did not allow a hit in the first two innings.

With two outs in the top of the 3rd, however, CSUC’s number nine batter Shane Farmer doubled down the left field line, and was followed by another double off the bat of Travis DeCoito to bring home the first run of the game.

The Chico offense began to roll in the next inning when Carl Fairburn hit a 2RBI single up the middle and Finazzo took a 3-1 hanging curve ball a few batters later and blasted a two-run shot to left.

After hitting a double in the top of the 6th, Finazzo laced a bases-clearing triple down the right field line to extend the Wildcat lead to 10-0. The Wildcats scored their eleventh run of the game on a sacrifice fly by Farmer, and Edgar Sedano hit a three-run bomb of his own later in the inning to push the lead to 15-0.

In the top of the 8th inning Finazzo put the final touch on his cycle performance with an RBI single to right field.

In the bottom of the inning Cody Puckett (Apple Valley, CA/Hesperia HS) led off with a single to left and, with two outs, pinch hitter Kennedy jumped on a 1-0 pitch and blooped it to right, scoring Puckett from first and breaking up the shutout bid.

Finazzo was 4-for-5 on the day with six runs batted in while DeCoito chipped in three hits. Woodruff picked up his seventh win of the season, allowing one run on five hits and not issuing a walk.

For the Toros, Matt Sannes (Long Beach, CA/El Camino College) was perfect on the day, going 2-for-2 and being hit by a pitch as CSUDH honored 11 seniors in Houston Hernandez, James Dodson, Gus Hernandez, Mateo Marquez, Jerit Coleman, Dustin Hicks, MurphiBennett Kennedy, Scott Moore, Michael Craig, Kyle Schneider, and Buddy McNeill in a pre-game ceremony.

CSUDH will next be in action on Thursday, May 3 when they host Cal State San Bernardino for the final series of the season, with first pitch scheduled for 2:00 pm on Toro Field.