Heat hold off Gold Sox to complete three-game sweep

Nettleton Stadium in Chico proved to be a house of horrors for the Yuba-sutter Gold Sox over the last three days as the first-place Chico Heat completed a three-game sweep with an 8-6 victory on Wednesday night.

After handing the Gold Sox a lopsided 15-1 loss on Tuesday, the Heat wasted little time jumping ahead again by sending 11 batters to the plate and scoring five runs in the bottom of the first inning on Wednesday.

Chico extended the lead to 7-0 before the Gold Sox finally got some offense going by scoring three times in the fifth to get back into the game. T.J. Dove connected for a two-run homer for his second home run of the season and Brody Clifford followed with a solo shot of his own to trim the lead to 7-3.

Yuba-sutter cut it to 7-5 in the eighth when Sterling Spurling drove a run with an RBI groundout and Elijah Smith scored on a wild pitch, but the Heat got a run back in the bottom half of the inning to take a three-run cushion into the ninth.

The Gold Sox scored an unearned run in their final trip to the plate to complete the scoring.

Clifford finished the night 2 for 5 with his homer and scored twice, and Vince Flores went 2 for 3 with a double and scored once to lead the way offensively for Yuba-sutter, which totaled eight hits in the game.

Chico (7-1) recorded 14 hits after tallying 17 the night before.

The Gold Sox (2-6) fell into last place in the Great West League standings with the loss. They will have their first off day of the summer today before hosting the San Francisco Seals (2-5) in a three-game series starting Friday at Colusa Casino Stadium in Marysville.