The Litter Box

I don't get to sign yearbooks anymore, but even though I used to hate doing that for people in high school, I feel like it's probably appropriate to wish Wildcat fans well as they get a break from Chico State sports — and therefore, The Litter Box.

One official year of Chico State athletics is now part of my body of work. Seeing as I took over this beat last year from great philanthropist Sean Murphy in the spring, starting with Scott Bauhs and Charlie Serrano getting national championships in North Carolina, this time of year means that 365 more days have been knocked off the calendar.

For the record, let me just say that in week 2 of Chico State being my beat, Amber Simmons’ transfer to UOP was my first “eeesh” assignment. It was a little weird going from silly high school sports to having phone calls ignored ad nauseum over an athlete transfer.

However, it was mostly gravy after that, and not the chalky, packaged brown kind, either. This year of sports coverage was, to me, like a good peppery biscuit gravy with little chunks of sausage in it. I had the option of sticking with the prep beat or taking over Sean’s role as Chico State reporter, and I didn’t really hesitate despite some nervousness going in. I’m glad that I made the move. The Wildcats — really, every sport I’ve covered — have provided some excitement in every season.

The cross country teams did their thing in the fall, but I really got my feet wet with the soccer clubs. The women were one of the top forces in the region; the men underachieved and saw Mike O’Malley leave his coaching post to be later replaced by Felipe Restrepo. The volleyball team had its own intrigue, with some great individual performances from Lindsay Macias (though a collapse at the end of the season, due in no small part to the suspension of half the starting lineup, was detrimental to the overall season).

Winter was basketball time, and there was drama — DRAMA! — in every form. The women kept on winning, riding a Molly Goodenbour-sparked transition from an offensive powerhouse to a collection of defense-minded grinders to the second round of the regional. From the eruption of freshman Natasha Smith to the emotional ending of Audi Spencer’s fantastic career, the Wildcats always made it interesting.

The men did, too, although it wasn’t always positive (it’s funny how many angry e-mails you get when you’re covering a last-place team; it’s like the frustration fans get can only be expressed to the writer getting paid to relay what’s happening ... The “Shoot the Messenger” phenomenon). Mike Martin was booted midseason, and that preceded the Great MM Shoe Debacle. Yeah, I’m capitalizing it. Rod Hawkins, Jesse Soto and Josh Jackson stand up for their exiled teammate by scribbling his intials on their shoes. It’s another demoralizing season as the Wildcats finish 7-20, but Chico State does send off coach Puck Smith with an impressive win in an inspired performance. Smith is soon replaced by Greg Clink, a former Wildcat himself.

There’s more: Bauhs runs roughshod over everybody, including Kim Ellison and his 4:01 mile record for Chico State in an electric display. The baseball team has a tremendous season despite a lineup composed almost entirely of new faces and comes within a game of moving on to the Division II Baseball Championship Tournament. The softball team struggles, but shows flashes of serious talent toward the end of the season.

The modest success of this blog is like Andrew Ferrin shooting 3-pointers; no, I didn’t really call bank, but the end result is pretty good-looking and that’s all that matters.
I’m trying to make it easier to let this thing lie fallow by leaving behind the wealth of memories this first year as Chico State beat writer has given me. It shouldn’t be too hard; at times it was a downright nuisance to upload to this thing. But I also really do enjoy it, and judging by the massive spike in readership (even with some small bottom-line figures in terms of pure numbers), you enjoy reading it. So I’ll look forward to the fall, when Chico State athletics get back into gear, and who knows? There could be blog-worthy pieces of information that trickle my way over the summer.

Until then, I hope you enjoyed this year of Chico State coverage. But if you didn’t, that’s fine too, because I had a blast providing it and wouldn’t have done it any other way. I thought coming into my career in Chico that this university had the best beat to work with, and, as I rarely find myself saying, I was right.

Posted by Travis Souders at 06:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The UC San Diego-Chico State game is underway after the Tritons eliminated Nebraska-Kearney after the Sonoma State Seawolves romped all over the Wildcats.

Once again, I'm on uniform watch, and the Tritons have done it again. Their grays are even sweeter than their home uniforms, just solid blue numbers with pinstripes and blue knee-high socks. Chico State is in their less favorable black-pinstriped home garb.

Regardless of what they're wearing, the winner of this one will have its work cut out tomorrow against Sonoma State. I've never seen a team so disciplined at the plate to the opposite field as the Seawolves, and to hold that offense to a score low enough to lose for two straight games is a tall task, to say the least.

Posted by Travis Souders at 07:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sonoma State has broken it open against the Wildcats, tacking on another three-run inning to make it 6-0. All the Seawolves do with runners on base is mash.

Andrew Pluta is out of the game, giving way to Brian Save. It's unclear whether Pluta was banged up or just ineffective, but either way there is no getting around the fact that Sonoma State's offense is the class of this tournament.

At this point, it would not surprise me in the least to see this team win everything.

Posted by Travis Souders at 12:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Once again, the Wildcats left the bases loaded. Kevin Seaver wasted three consecutive Chico State base hits with one out by grounding tenderly into a 4-6-3 double play in the top of the fifth. The difference between these two teams thus far has been execution with runners on base.

The Wildcats have gotten none of it, stranding seven baserunners through five. Still 3-0 Sonoma State in the bottom of the fifith.

Posted by Travis Souders at 12:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Kevin Asselin has limited the Wildcats to one hit as the Seawolves still lead 3-0 heading to the fifth inning. He has hit three batters, including Shane Farmer, who just can't get a break this weekend.

Sonoma State has gotten some great defensive play up to this point, including a run-saving diving stop by Ian Bridges at first. Andrew Pluta has taken two line drives off the legs, but has settled in somewhat.

Chico State is swinging at some pretty bad pitches right now, though Asselin probably has something to do with it.

Posted by Travis Souders at 12:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Wildcats, trailing 3-0, just stranded the bases loaded in the top of the second and were robbed of a run when pitcher Kevin Asselin balked and not one of the umpires called it.

I don't usually argue with umps on things like balls and strikes, but Asselin started his windup from the mound, brought his hands above his head and then just stopped. Nobody called it. Bush league.

What does Asselin have to do to get called for it? Stop mid-delivery? Fake a pitch? I just don't get how four umpires miss a call. Still, bad call or not, there is no denying the Wildcats just blew a huge scoring opportunity and a chance to get right back in this game.

Posted by Travis Souders at 11:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Sonoma Songbirds, as I'm calling them, have returned to Nettleton. It's basically two female voices that last week pestered the Wildcats with shouts of "'Noma!" in between every pitch.

EVERY pitch.

I'm sure somebody thinks it's cute. I'm not one of them. Regardless, it seems to be working for the Seawolves right now, as they have runners on first and third with nobody out and the CCAA player of the year, Ian Bridges, at the plate...

Sacrifice fly to left. 1-0 Son — er, 'Noma.

Posted by Travis Souders at 11:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Both Sonoma State and Chico State have earned their way to the winners' bracket game, to the surprise of probably nobody (except maybe UC San Diego, which was not too happy about committing four costly errors last night). These teams have got to be sick of each other by now, especially after facing each other three times last week in the CCAA tournament.

It's Kevin Asselin (7-2, 3.93 ERA) for the Seawolves against Chico State's Andrew Pluta (9-3, 3.87), who battled last week only to see his bullpen blow it.

It will be interesting to see if Pluta can keep the Sonoma State lineup, a veritable meat grinder, in check today, and to see if the Wildcat offense can keep up the hot hitting we saw Friday against the Tritons.

Also, I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth by any means, since Chico State's press box has been taking care of anybody who ventures up here, but I'm sure my stomach is going to make some kind of adjustment to living on trail mix and diet soda. Then again, maybe it knows I'm getting this stuff in quite the hospitable fashion.

Scoreless after half an inning. Bret Ringer took a four-pitch walk, but that was it.

Posted by Travis Souders at 10:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Wildcats have scored nine runs in the last three innings to take a 10-4 lead. Shane Farmer blasted his first career homer, a three-run drive to left to officially make him the man of the hour.

Just in case, you know, slamming your face into a wall doesn't do it.

UC San Diego entered the West Regional the top-fielding team in the country and has committed three errors in this game, and all have been huge.

Posted by Travis Souders at 09:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Tritons have taken the lead after loading the bases with no outs against Mike Robbins, though it's only 2-1. It could have been much uglier, but UC San Diego's lead runner was catcher Chris Hom with not much speed, and he couldn't score on a fly ball to center. Still, Matt Cantele broke an 0-for-the postseason slump with an RBI flare to center and Evan Kehoe, the guy who put Shane Farmer into the center field fence, got a sac fly for the lead.

Meanwhile, Guido Knudson has settled into a nice groove for UC San Diego. He's throwing strikes and he has the lead, bad news for Chico State unless the Wildcats want to see the filthy bullpen the Tritons boast.

Posted by Travis Souders at 08:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Shane Farmer just made the best baseball play I've ever seen in person.

The Wildcat center fielder tracked down Evan Kehoe's 400-foot fly ball in the bottom of the first with a runner on first, sprinting full speed to the wall in center field before soaring into it, backhanding it with his glove and collapsing onto the warning track.

For comic book nerds, it was Spidermanesque. For Giants fans, think Willie Mays.

Oh yeah, he held the runner, too.

Farmer plowed into the plywood fence face-first, so hard, in fact, that he left a little mark in the wall. He laid on the ground for a few minutes before insisting that he stayed in. You make a play like that and you can do whatever you want, as far as I'm concerned.

It's still 1-0 in the middle of the second.

Posted by Travis Souders at 07:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I feel like I just watched a Tom Emanski video, as Chico State has the 1-0 lead after a half-inning. Joey Burke led off with a single from an eight-pitch at-bat, was bunted to second by Jimmy Dodos and scored on a two-strike knock from Josh Meagher.

The Wildcats are in their road uniforms, playing as the away team, and in my opinion the grays are the best unis Chico State has. UC San Diego's got a decent look, too, probably enhanced by the knee-high socks.

This 7 p.m. start time is murder on whoever is in the third-base dugout, as the shadows come from right field over the first-base dugout while the opposing side is staring right into the sun. Don't think it will be a factor, but it can't be fun.

Posted by Travis Souders at 07:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We're about 20 minutes from first pitch between Chico State and UC San Diego in the winners' bracket game here at Nettleton Stadium. One lineup wrinkle for the Wildcats tonight, as Matt Bitker is getting the start at DH in place of ice-cold Cody Dee, whose average has plummeted over the last month or so.

Pitchers for tonight will be Mike Robbins (9-1, 3.36) ERA, he of the All-West Region status, for the Wildcats against Guido Knudson (6-4, 3.86 ERA) of the Tritons. Strange lineup tweak for UC San Diego, with Matt Cantele (team-high 11 home runs, 50 RBIs) in the second spot. At this point, it's not necessarily him that scares me — although he's still a candidate to step on any pitch at any time — but rather Garrett Imeson, who rakes but, more importantly, is arguably the most clutch hitter in the Tritons' lineup.

Weather update: Trick. There has to actually be a change in order to update, and it's still freakin' hot.

Posted by Travis Souders at 06:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Jeff Hughes just rocked a solo home run and the Warriors manufactured another run to make it 4-2, finally getting to Pete Mickartz. The right-hander, though, has struck out 10 batters through six innings, a postseason Wildcat record.

Kyle Eveland just made the play of the night so far, diving deep in the six-hole to grab a ground ball that, all told, saved two runs.

Marquis Fleming has settled in a bit after a rough start, putting down the Wildcats 1-2-3. It's 4-2 headed to the seventh.

Posted by Travis Souders at 08:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Marquis Fleming has got to feel like he's being beaten to death with a feather, suffering a bevy of well-placed but softly hit singles, a couple errors and timely RBI hits to make for a 4-0 Chico State lead heading to the top of the fourth inning.

Early on, I felt that home plate umpire Kevin Ainsworth was squeezing Fleming a bit, but now the strike zone has loosened up. We just saw the widest strike of the night, one that even Cal State Stanislaus SIDs laughed at.

Jimmy Dodos continues to dump on the energy. He's got a base hit in this one and every time I see him he's running around or slapping somebody.

Also, I feel like mentioning that we're missing out on Mike Baca's play-by-play on ESPN Radio, 101.7 FM and 1340 AM, because the NCAA officials in the press box don't want it on. Doesn't mean you can't catch it, and you very well should.

Posted by Travis Souders at 08:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We'll get to see two of the CCAA's best hurlers in tonight's game, with Chico State sending Pete Mickartz (12-3, 3.26 ERA) to counter conference pitcher of the year Marquis Fleming (11-4, 2.36 ERA) for Cal State Stanislaus.

The two have been loosening up for a while now, as we're about 20 minutes from first pitch, and Fleming is not a big dude at all. But, looking at his numbers — which is so far all I have to go on — his stuff is filthy. I usually assume that when I see numbers like 112 strikeouts against 39 walks in 107 innings. I don't care who you are, that's nastiness.

Mickartz is slightly more human at 73-23-94.

What I like about these tournaments is that I get to see talent that I've only read about all year (we E-R writers don't get to travel. Ever). I'm really pumped to see Fleming pitch, even if the Warriors' jerseys are a little goofy. It's just this big red mess with some unfortunate white stripes around the armpits. They have the two-stripe socks, though, which I dig.

Posted by Travis Souders at 06:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Forgive me talking about the weather, but it is hotter than 100 degrees here at Nettleton Stadium and there are factors making me think the heat will play a role over the weekend.

The first is the American and California flags in left-center pointing to the rugby field. My prognostication, uneducated and fairly high in duh-factor, is that fly balls are going to carry in this tournament.

Taking a look at the boxscore from the Sonoma State-Nebraska-Kearney morning game, I'm either deducing that 1) Sonoma State is still raking the daylights out of the ball or 2) this yard is live. It can, of course, be both.

As a sidenote, Chico State SID's Luke Reid has brought his baby Maia up to the press box, and she's not too happy about the heat either. I love watching people get uncomfortable and irritated around crying babies, as if there's anything a baby can do about it. It confirms that they take themselves too seriously.

UC San Diego just won the second game over Western Oregon. The Wolves had the lead in the seventh, but a three-run homer from Garrett Imeson in the bottom of the frame gave the Tritons the lead back, and the Wolves couldn't recover. Told you the ball was carrying.

Posted by Travis Souders at 05:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The West Region baseball tournament seedings were announced Sunday night, which is really convenient.

Also convenient (but not sarcastically) is that all four teams that were in Chico for the CCAA tournament will get to stick around for another round of baseball. Nettleton Stadium will be the hosting site, which means another week of hapless media sunburns and quality baseball.

I'm kind of curious to see if Division II's officials will be as amusingly uptight as the CCAA's.

Anyway, as promised, here are the seedings:

1. Sonoma State
2. UC San Diego
3. Chico State
4. Cal State Stanislaus
5. Western Oregon
6. Nebraska-Kearney

If you'll remember, Western Oregon came into town before the CCAA season started and dropped three of four. Needless to say, it looks like that program has straightened things out. I'll still hold a grudge, albeit a non-biased one as far as articles are concerned, against them because they refused to talk to media after getting one-hit by Andrew Pluta.

That's something that really gets on my nerves about sports journalism. I don't know where the idea came from that the media is going to absolutely hang you out to dry if you lose a baseball game, but there is a definite feeling of both fear and resent, ridiculous when you consider that getting quotes and insight is part of my low-paying job.

Gripe over. Play starts Thursday at 11 a.m.

Posted by Travis Souders at 10:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you have to get paid paltry amounts of money to watch sports, you might as well get some sweet people-watching in while you’re doing it. The CCAA (if you’re reading this blog, by now you know what CCAA stands for) championship baseball tournament has seen some great games over the last two days, and I’m having a good time, for the most part.
Also, if you’re reading this blog, you know I’m an egoist, so I won’t feel bad about personal references.

In fact, I’ve just changed tack. Just now. Here is the CCAA tourney — as I see it:

Pitching, pitching, pitching.
I’m kind of a pitching nut, which is funny, since that is where my fantasy team is getting absolutely hammered so far. Whatever; it’s a long season. My point is that I like watching postseason baseball so much more because of the quality of the games. Remember those double-digit snorefests that Wildcat fans would get to see when Cal State Monterey Bay came to town? Of course you don’t. Sadly, I have a memory that won’t let me forget those poor Otters scratching around for anybody who looked like he might be able to throw a strike.
You don’t see those kinds of games late in the season, and we haven’t seen them in the last two days. Pete Mickartz and Mike Robbins were dominant in their starts, and Kyle Woodruff has picked up two saves and is looking like a new man (or the old one, if you remember last season).

The CCAA is a bunch of jerks.
Not dangerous jerks, though. I wouldn’t feel like if I saw a CCAA official in a dark alley that I would get stabbed. It’s more likely that he would whine to me that the dark alley I was in was part of a CCAA function, and therefore I need to show credentials and wait for 10 minutes after I get permission before returning to the dark alley.
In other words, I was stopped after Friday’s game from going onto the field for postgame interviews by some old guy in a CCAA hat. Keep in mind, I’ve done this about 10 times this season.
“Whoa, hold on there, bud,” Old CCAA Guy said. “You gotta wait. These players get a 10-minute cooling-off period. I don’t see a pass on you, either...”
This was insane and simultaneously hilarious to me since 1) most the players are used to me being there right after they come back to the dugout and 2) there is absolutely no reason why a team, overjoyed from a huge win, would need a “cooling-off period.”
“I’m fine. Dave is expecting me to be here,” I told Old CCAA Guy as I walked to the dugout. “Chico State is my beat, I always do this.”

“Well, this isn’t a Chico State event. It’s a CCAA function,” he said. “Do you have a pass?”

As I walked past him, I couldn’t help but think of how I watched this guy during the course of the game stand by the gate next to the dugout and do nothing. I want to know what this dude’s job title is.

While I’m ripping on the CCAA...
Its tournament logo is ludicrously suggestive and has become the laughingstock of nearly anybody who has laid their hands on the CCAA’s program. As my esteemed editor Dave Davies put it, “Somebody should have thought twice about this. It looks bad.”

If you’re creative enough, it almost looks like a runner sliding into a fielder at some base. If you’re normal, though, it looks like a different kind of collision entirely.
Of all the aspects of baseball to immortalize in a logo, why this one? Aren’t there other cool things that happen in baseball? A silhouette of a guy throwing a ball would be neat. Or maybe hitting one. Or catching one. But there’s two guys here ... and that’s enough said.

Posted by Travis Souders at 08:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Hey. Hey, it’s me again. Sorry I’ve been away so long. I’ve been busy. No, it’s not you. Really, I’ve just had a lot on my plate. I still love you. I just had to take care of some “me” things.
Forgive me? Hug?
OK, I understand. I’ve been away. But I’ve got some pretty cool news.

———

Chico State’s men’s basketball, team, for instance, just signed Ethan Stone to a national letter of intent. This is new coach Greg Clink’s first move since his hiring, and I think it’s a good one. I saw Stone play the last couple years when Cordova High came to visit the Chico High Nichols Shootout tournament, and he put up 20-plus each time I watched him. For those of you familiar with Northern Section basketball, Stone’s skill set reminds me a lot of that of former Oroville High swingman A.J. Hills, who now is getting his education at Portland State.

Before he retired, Puck Smith had admitted borderline envy over the Vikings when they signed Hills to play free safety for their football team; Smith loved Hills’ athleticism and court vision and so did I. Stone is the same kind of player, I think, and he should fit in well with the Wildcats. I don’t think he’ll be starting material as soon as he steps on the floor, but at 6-foot-4, I could see him being a good 3 off the bench.

———

Scott Bauhs is the Enterprise-Record’s Sportsperson of the Year, to the surprise of none. There was no real formality involved in the voting, but I will tell you that I had a vote and almost everyone else who did expressed that Bauhs was a no-brainer. Seeing as the Chico Sports Hall of Fame and Senior Athletes Banquet is really more of a prep event than anything else, it was prep writer Leland Gordon who took in the ceremony and not me.

I’m sure you’ll have no trouble joining me in congratulating Scott Bauhs on his tremendous year, although in all honesty I really see no end in sight for what the phenom will accomplish.
He’s already got the Division II record for the 10k and world-class talent to match his aspirations.

———

I already went into detail about the California Collegiate Athletic Association’s all-conference baseball teams, but I didn’t really get to express what a crock it is that Pete Mickartz got left off. He was an honorable mention, which almost is more of a slap in the face than no mention, if you ask me. The same goes for Jimmy Dodos and Andrew Pluta.
Who is doing this voting? How does a pitcher lead the conference in wins and not even get voted to at least the second team? I talked to Mickartz briefly over the phone on Tuesday, when the teams were announced. He was very humble about it and echoed Dodos’ sentiments that individual awards are nice, but not that important.

I say to hell with that, and I’m sure Mickartz would, outside of diplomacy and good taste, agree. A 3.21 ERA in a metal bat league for the No. 3 team in the conference doesn’t merit a first-team selection? I’m screaming fix. The Wildcats’ strength all year was their pitching; to not select even one to the first team is ludicrous.

I know from having been part of the Northern Section’s prep all-section meetings that a lot of kids are picked (or ignored) because of their classmanship, and if Mickartz was left off because he’s a freshman, everybody should be irate and go burn someone’s house down. Just because he’ll have three more cracks at it doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve it this year. I’m not saying Mickartz is the best pitcher in the conference, but he is one of them, and he got hosed on this one.

———

Gotcha — I’m not done talking about this. I don’t even feel like I’m being opinionated about this. I see it as a matter of fact: Pete Mickartz should be a first-team all-CCAA pitcher. All I want is to hear some counter-argument with some proof, a number or something that shows that Mickartz was worse than the 10 pitchers on the all-conference squad. Bret Montgomery of Cal State Dominguez Hills appeared in 10 games and is a first-teamer? UC San Diego’s Kirby St. John, a second-team pick, started nine games; Mickartz won 11.

I’m just sayin’. All the guys on there have sparkling ERAs, but I have a feeling whoever picks these teams isn’t looking too far beyond that stat.

Posted by Travis Souders at 06:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)