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POMONA, Calif. - Derek LaFerriere drove in four runs to help lead No. 4 seed San Francisco State to a 6-4 win over No. 5 seed Chico in an opening-round elimination game at the 2024 CCAA Baseball Tournament.
 
The Gators entered the bottom of the third trailing 2-0 before scoring four runs to take a lead they would never give up. The inning began with a hit-by-pitch before the next three batters recorded hits to tie the game at 2-2. That brought LaFerriere to the plate with no one and two on. The junior catcher doubled down the left field line to bring in Justin Johnson and Daniel Santos for a 4-2 lead. LaFerriere extended that lead with two insurance runs in the bottom of the fourth on a two-out, opposite-field single.
 
SF State then went to the bullpen. It removed its starter, David Eichhorn, and brought in another starter, Ryan Garza. The Wildcats got both runs back as Carson Stevens singled as the second batter of the inning and came around to score on a double by Jeremy Keller. Keller would score later in the inning on a two-out hit by Elijah Pascual to cut Chico State's deficit to 6-4.
 
Garza then locked in on the mound and held Chico State to just three singles the rest of the way. After giving up a single on a full-count pitch to start the top of the eighth, Garza induced a 5-4-3 double play to end the threat. He earned the win to improve to 6-2 after going the final five innings. He allowed six hits and two runs. Starter David Eichhorn went the first four innings and had a nearly identical line to Garza with six hits and two earned runs, but he also posted four strikeouts.
 
Thade Miller had four hits for Chico State, which outhit the Gators 12-10. He also had two stolen bases. Stevens, Keller, and Stefan Foley all posted multi-hit games.
 
Johnson joined LaFerriere as the only Gators with multiple hits. Johnson reached in all four plate appearances, including drawing his first career intentional walk. He went 2-for-2 with a double, two walks, an RBI, and a run scored. LaFierriere was also 2-for-2. Eight of the Gators' nine starters had at least one hit.
 
San Francisco State advances to the double-elimination portion of the 2024 CCAA Baseball Tournament. SFSU will face the No. 1 seed, Cal State Monterey Bay, at 11 a.m. on Thursday, May 9. Tickets are available now at GoCCAA.org/Tickets. For fans who cannot attend, all games will be streamed live on the CCAA Network at CCAAnetwork.com.