In a tense, defense heavy game, the Cosumnes River Hawk’s sought to defeat the San Joaquin Delta Mustangs and win the tied series.
Pitching and defense were the strength for both teams as the game began and the first inning for both teams came to a close quickly with a succession of quick outs gained.
“I was pretty happy with our performance,” said Mustangs’ head coach Reed Peters. “You know, getting out of that first inning jam with the bases loaded no outs was obviously a big momentum swing for us.”
It was in the second inning that Delta came out swinging as freshman first baseman Wyatt Castro hit the ball high up towards right field for a home run putting the Mustangs up 1-0.
The Hawk’s answered back quickly by shutting Delta down and ending the inning. In the first and second inning, Delta started off a trend that would be common for them in the game of allowing CRC players to be walked by either beaning players or racking up balls.
“We gotta eliminate the walks on the mound and the hit by pitches, too many free passes right there,” Peters said.
Castro’s home run was the sole scoring done by Delta until the fifth inning, as both teams began to play a defensive game once again.
The Hawks started the fifth inning off with a strikeout followed by a bean ball and a tag out at home base, as freshman midfielder Andrew Urbistando bunted right to freshman pitcher Kyle Von Ruden who threw the ball to sophomore catcher Bryan Case stopping freshman midfielder Connor Torres from scoring a run.
It wasn’t enough to stop Delta as the Mustangs were able to score five runs in the fifth inning including another home run courtesy of sophomore catcher Jordon Devencenzi that also brought home sophomore second baseman Stevie Robinson bringing the score to 6-0, Mustangs’ favor.
A pitching change on the part of CRC, taking starting pitcher Von Ruden out to replace him with sophomore Blake Harrison, was not enough to change the game’s momentum.
CRC changed their pitcher twice more in the game to bring out freshman Shane Martin and freshman Nathan Gonzalez, managing to stop the Mustangs from scoring again but it was not enough.
“We lost. That’s what we did, we lost,” said Hawks’ head coach Tony Bloomfield. “We gave up a five run fifth inning with two outs and lost the game 5 to 1, 6 to 1.”
No runs were scored for the Hawks, even as they managed to keep the Mustangs from scoring again, till the eighth inning. The Mustangs’ pitcher sophomore Cody Lane beaned Hawks freshman Mason Watkins and freshman Josh Cosio which allowed sophomore Garrett Heisinger to hit a drive towards first base letting Watkins bring it home for the Hawks’ only run of the game.
“We need to score runs. We need to score runs with bases loaded nobody on the first and our four hitter up and he can’t get it done and the DH can’t get it done, number six guy can’t get it done,” Bloomfield said. “Two juniors and a freshman kid. That’s where the game is lost right there when you have a chance, fourth time for sure we had bases loaded and couldn’t score a run.”
Delta ended the eighth inning and the final inning for both teams ended quickly with no runs being scored leaving the Mustangs’ winning the game and the series.
“It’s embarrassing, it’s depressing,” Bloomfield said. “And some of these kids you know need to look in the future what they’re gonna do with their lives cause they’re not baseball players. It’s embarrassing.”
