BEAVERS SWEEP THE WEEKEND AT HARTNELL

The American River College baseball team was able to sweep the two games at Hartnell College in Salinas this weekend but in very different fashions.  Friday’s game was a slugfest which saw the Beavers hit their first three home runs of the season.  Sophomore RF Josiah Taylor (Alpha Charter) became the first ARC Baseball player since Justin Borchard (Woodland) did so in a 9-2 victory also at Harnell on February 9^th, 2018 to hit two home runs in a game.  Taylor led off the game by hammering an 0-2 pitch over the left field fence to put the Beavers up 1-0.  The bats went cold after that until the top of the 5^th inning when LF Trevor Crockett (Del Campo) singled in a run.  Taylor then followed with his second homer of the game, a three run shot to left center to put ARC up 5-1.  Sophomore 2B Blake Yuyama (Kennedy) then drove a 2-1 pitch over the right field fence for his first of the year and back-to-back home runs.  The Beavers would score 6 times in the frame but gave 5 of them right back to the Panthers in the bottom of the 5^th.  Hartnell’s CF Jonas Francovich hit a grand slam off of Beaver starter Tyler Quintanilla (Summit Shasta).  ARC got two runs back in the 6^th inning but Hartnell answered back with a solo home run on the first pitch from freshman LHP Wyatt Winalski (San Juan).  American River then started to pull away with 4 more in the 7^th and 2 in the 8^th to go up 15-6 but a couple of defensive miscues, a couple of hit batters and a couple of doubles from Hartnell allowed the Panthers to close the gap to 15-12.  Sophomore closer Christian Lucero (River City) slammed the door in the 9^th to rack up his 3^rd save of the season in his state leading 6^th appearance of the season.

Friday’s game went much differently as the Beavers were gifted a run thanks to a pair of errors and a dropped third strike in the top of the first to put ARC on top in the first inning.  RHP Blake Yuyama struggled a bit in the 2^nd inning allowing a pair of runs, one on a bases loaded hit by pitch to put Hartnell up 2-1.  The score remained the same until the 6^th when LF Trevor Crockett laid down a perfect bunt with two outs and sophomore 2B Alejandro Belo (Vanden) on third to tie the game.  Belo became the hero in the 7^th inning with an RBI single to right which plated CF Lincoln Orellana (Sheldon) from third.  Yuyama ended up gutting out a season high 7 innings to get the win with freshman LHP Anthony Ocanas (Woodland) picking up his first career save.  Ocanas was aided by a couple of sparkling defensive plays by freshman Cole Talley (Skyridge, UT) at third base who had just entered the game in the 8^th.  Ocanas retired the side on 6 pitches, all strikes, in the 9^th to give the Beavers the 3-2 win. 

After Sunday off to enjoy the Super Bowl the Beavers will return to action on Thursday at home against Butte College at 2:00 p.m.   

Photo Credit: XTG Media