Poor defense and even poorer pitch control doomed the Hawks as they dropped the first of a two-game series to the College of the Sequoias Giants.

The Hawks were unable to dig out of the hole they found themselves in early in the first inning after CRC sophomore starting pitcher Blake Harrison gave up four runs to the Giants’ batters before being pulled from the game for sophomore pitcher Anthony Amara with one out recorded.

“We didn’t pitch very well, our starting guy wasn’t really good on the mound,” said CRC head coach Tony Bloomfield. “We had our chances, they played better than we did.”

In the bottom of the first, sophomore outfielder Malik Hill got the Hawks’ offense going with a leadoff single off Giants sophomore pitcher Leland Tilley. In the following at bat, sophomore second-baseman Luke McDonald reached base on a throwing error from Giants’ freshman infielder Christian Gastelum.

Freshman outfielder Josh Pigg drove home the Hawks first run of the game with a single to centerfield, driving home Hill.

Sophomore catcher Bryan Case shortened the Giants lead even further reaching base on a fielder’s choice that brought home McDonald. By the end of the first inning the Hawks were down 4-2.

Both the Hawks’ and Giants’ pitchers found their groove following the first inning. Amara and Tilley both held the opposing teams off the scoreboard until the Hawks got things going in the bottom of the fifth with an RBI single from Case that brought home Hill, shortening the gap to one.

The game started to get away from the Hawks in the seventh inning. Giants’ freshman infielder Nick Stoll started the seventh with a single and promptly advanced to second base following a wild pitch from freshman pitcher Shane Martin.

Martin was then removed for freshman pitcher Layton O’Reilly who would then be removed for freshman pitcher Nate Gonzalez after walking the bases loaded. Gonzalez then walked Gastelum, bringing home the Giants fifth run.

“Anytime you can go on the road and score early your guys can relax a little bit,” said Giants’ head coach Jody Allen.

Things started to fall apart in the eighth inning for the Hawks. Gonzalez gave up an RBI single to Stoll, his fourth hit in five at-bats. Stoll was then driven home by freshman infielder Ross Feeley to increase the lead to four.

Sophomore pitcher Mitchell Navarro was brought in with one out and recorded two pop flies to center field to end the inning and stop the bleeding.

Any chance the Hawks had to stage a comeback was squandered in the ninth inning. Following a single by McDonald, Pigg grounded into a double play, killing any momentum the team had. Freshman pitcher Ryan Guajardo then forced a pop-out to seal a 7-3 win for the visiting Giants.

“We’re not real good right now.” Bloomfield said. “We’re real weak mentally and it’s usually one big inning that cost you the game at this level.”