Weather postpones ‘Jacks series with Chico
Cal Poly Humboldt announced that this weekend’s scheduled series with Chico State will be postponed due to inclement weather in Chico. The two teams were scheduled for a pair of doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday.
Given the winter storm warning in Humboldt County, the announcement doesn’t come as a surprise. On top of the fact that inclement weather was affecting Chico, it would have been a tumultuous journey for Humboldt to navigate the trip to Central California.
For the team, the announcement might come at an unfortunate time as the ‘Jacks were looking to bounce back from a sweep against Cal State San Marcos last week. The Cougars moved to the top of the conference standings with the four victories and were also moved up in the national rankings. San Marcos is now ranked sixth in the nation.
Considering the team’s pedigree, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Humboldt struggled to steal a game on the road. But the Lumberjacks did come close in the late games of this weekend’s series. On Friday, Humboldt lost the first game of a doubleheader 10-4. Then in the second game, the Lumberjacks held the Cougars to just one run for most of the game as pitcher Gauge Garcia turned in a solid performance. San Marcos extended the lead to 2-0 in the bottom of the sixth before closing out the win in the top of the seventh.
It was a similar story on Saturday. Humboldt lost 6-0 in the first game as the offense continued to struggle. But the team responded in the second game, taking a brief 2-1 lead in the top of the fourth before the Cougars responded with runs in the next two innings to take a 3-2 lead heading into the sixth. The Humboldt offense was shut out the rest of the way by the elite pitching of San Marcos.
“The hope is that all this adversity that we’re seeing now is gonna pay off in the end,” said Humboldt head coach Shelli Sarchett. “Teaching how to win, how to play the game when you’re playing ranked teams. How to compete and how to finish a ballgame.”
For now, Sarchett has been much more focused on the process as she takes a detail-oriented approach to coaching the team through this difficult initial stretch. And taking on a mindset of embracing the challenge is what is needed for this team to navigate the tough early schedule.
“As hard as it is in the win-loss column, these games are helping prepare us and set us up for future success,” said Sarchett. “It’s teaching us how to be competitive.”
With the series against Chico postponed, the team will have to learn quickly ahead of their home opener against Cal State Dominguez Hills next week. The ‘Jacks might have a better chance after the Toros are 3-3 over their past six games, but Dominguez Hills is still ranked 13th in the Top 25 nationally. It’s another tough challenge, but also a prime opportunity for Humboldt to make a statement in their home opener.
“We’d love for things to come easy to us, but life isn’t that way,” said Sarchett. “So we got to sit there and fight.”