Hawks get dramatic win against Wolverines

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Kainoa Nunez

Cosumnes River College sophomore pitcher Daniel Vitoria on the mound against Sierra College in a win on March 29 that ended with a walk-off.

The men’s baseball team hosted a Big 8 conference matchup against the Wolverines of Sierra College, which was their second matchup in a three game series.

They won 5-4 in a dramatic walk-off win on March 29.

Sierra is ranked first in the division with their record 21-5, and they are well known for hitting the ball out of the park.

“Every team in the Big is always competitive, it’s a tough conference, every team that we play have to bring our ‘A’ game,” Head Coach Don Mico said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s Sierra [or] whoever.”

The Hawks took a 1-0 lead in the first inning by utility Aaron Pierce, advancing to score the first point of the game by a single from utility Damien Chavez.

The Wolverines answered back with outfielder Haruto Nakano, who hit a double homerun for 320 feet in right field, and took the lead 2-1.

“[We] need to continue trying to pitch well, get outs, manufactured runs and from then go to inning to inning trying to win in anyway we can,” said first baseman and left handed specialist Joey Pankratz.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Hawks had Chavez and first baseman/left-handed specialist Joey Pancratz on base with zero outs, and pitcher

Troy Davis hit a single midfield and both Hawks scored. Hawks took the lead 3-2.

Hawks pitcher Nic Wilson played till the fifth inning, then started Timmy Tarrant as the next pitcher.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, Hawks had outfielder Burle Dixon on first with one out, then Dixon stole second. Pierce was hit by a pitch, then advanced to second by a wild pitch from the Wolverines, and that allowed Dixon to score.

The score was 4-2, which was a big moment for the Hawks. The next two innings were scoreless.

On top of the eighth inning, Wolverines had cather Logan Wurum on third base and infielder Charles Middleton hit a single and Wurm scored, making it 3-4.

The Hawks tried to respond, but the defense from the Wolverines prevented them from scoring.

In top of the ninth inning, Vitoria tried to close the inning and seal the deal, but the Wolverines tied the game 4-4 from an error on first base that Vitoria threw to get Nakan out.

“We just got to pitch low, and just got to play better baseball,” Vitoria said.

The Hawks were up to bat, outfielder Jared Alameida got on base and stole to third, and Pancratz hit out to right field a sacrificed RBI to allow Alameida to walk home to score and end the game. The final score was 5-4.

“There was a runner at third, so I was just trying to get him home,” Pankratz said.

It was a battle to the end, but the Hawks came out with a huge win, which ended their four-game losing streak. The Hawks and Wolverines would face again on March 30 at Sierra for the final matchup meeting.

“We got to learn how to finish games,” Mico said. “We’ve been in lots of close games [that] get away from us, and it just shows you how young are team is.”